[AccessD] Moderator Message

Gustav Brock Gustav at cactus.dk
Thu Aug 6 04:01:42 CDT 2009


Hi Andy

I think your attitude wearing the moderator hat is very British - always polite, precise, and with good timing - so at least you have full support from me.

Out of crisis grow solutions (as we these years can monitor on the largest scale) and I think your suggestion for an AccessD-Not list is very good. 

However, I would love to see the dba-vb stuff moved to AccessD which could be focussed on development stuff, mostly Access related but not exclusively. As Drew mentions, quite a few of us have moved from Access to other environments and others may be expected to follow. But I think most of us who have moved have not moved completely, and for example Shamil has done a great job constantly to maintain the link back to Access (Northwind). 
Now, much the same way you can argue that the SQL Server stuff belongs to the AccessD list. Traffic is low at the SQL Server list and often relates directly to Access, and I see no problem moving that to AccessD as well. Sometimes we touch other engines and languages, like MySQL and PHP, and with this setup there would be no doubt where to post such messages. It should be no problem to include some keyword in the subject line as a guide.

That would leave:

  AccessD: Access, other developer stuff, SQL Server and other database related material
  AccessD-Not: Not the AccessD content, in effect the current dba-tech list
  AccessD-OT: The current OT list, anything not relevant for the other lists

Finally, I think I'm in line with most of the list members, that the value of this list is the massive and broad experience built from the sum of our present and current activities ready to support and educate you, not the count of messages per day.

/gustav


>>> andy at minstersystems.co.uk 06-08-2009 09:09 >>>
The Moderator's Lament
----------------------

I kind of started this thread off by speaking to John B, and I'm glad I did.
I feel the list has become unmoderatable, at least by me. I have neither the
energy nor the inclination to intervene as often as it would need to keep
the list on-topic. If the majority want the mod to show teeth, as said, and
keep everyone in-line then that'll be someone else. Then again I think that
sounds like another list anyway not ours. But we are definitely divided into
2 camps on this. FYI on the few occasions it all gets too much and I do
intervene I get more howls of protest than thanks. That's not meant to sound
like I'm asking for deep gratitude, I'm just reporting what happens.
Personally, taking the mod hat off, I like the chat most of the time and
have some sympathy with JC's stance that without the OT stuff there'd be
nearly no stuff at all, but this thread is also showing that not everyone
agrees. So we need a ruling on this from the BOD, and when we have that we
need everyone to (more or less) abide by it.

I am a little mystified as to why the AccessD-Tech list is hardly used. It
seems ideal for the non-Access and for the chit-chat. I suspect it fell into
disuse because too few people subbed to it so that if you have a general
(and sometime urgent) question the only way to get to a large audience is to
go to AccessD. So why don't we rename it AccessD-NonAccess (or maybe, in
homage to Wayne's World, AccessD-Not), put everyone on it automatically (the
key word), and use it as the sister list for all of the stuff we're debating
here? If everyone was on it wouldn't that work? And those who want just
Access can filter it into the bin. I know it's not an original suggestion
but I can't see why it wouldn't suit everyone. Ok, AccessD might then have
little traffic, but OTOH it might get more, because the current email-soup
may in fact be discouraging newbies. And those of us who enjoy the family
ethos of the list would get that from NonAccess.

I'll end with a plea. Let's stay together, let's not change the overall
atmosphere of the list(s) but let's be aware that some of the quieter voices
deserve to be heard too.

Your ever/over tolerant moderator

Andy





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