[AccessD] The list

 > The consensus was to let AccessD wither through inaction. One year later, I agree with Tony: the 
group's plan worked, and AccessD has withered.

My recollection was to have you and Tony come up with a plan of action to cause Microsoft to enhance 
the product such that there was a massive new buzz and, with millions of Access jobs pouring out of 
the re-invigorated market for Access, to cause developers to start pouring into the list.

It seems that you  have failed in your charge.  We shall flog you with a cat-o-nines as soon as we 
discover where in the world you may be located - and where to find a cat-o-nines.

I wrote a lucid and realistic explanation of why the list existed to begin with (I was around at the 
beginning, and I kinda remember why we were there and what was being discussed) and why it is not so 
active any more.  You can throw whiz-bang technologies at the problem till the digital cows come 
home but if there is nothing being done in the platform, it is unlikely that there will be a ton of 
traffic on a developer list for the platform.

In light of this I concur with your new rules, paraphrased a bit.

1) We admit that Access has withered on the vine.
2) We admit that Microsoft, with malice and forethought, intentionally allowed Access to die as a 
development platform.
3) Given points 1 and 2, we loosen the rules to explicitly allow more chat, keeping the topics to 
something technical remotely related to databases or programming.
4) We quit flogging the list for not forcing Microsoft to make Access more relevant to Databases and 
therefore to us.
5) We horsewhip you and Tony for your failures mentioned above.
6) We re-task yourself and Tony to do whatever you believe would turn this list back into a 
burgeoning and lively place to discuss stuff, paying you handsomely if you manage to do so.

Sound good?

Or... we are a publicly held company.  You could call a meeting of the board and demand changes.  It 
would be good to have solid plans for such changes, but I am certain that the board would entertain 
your requests.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting

Reality is what refuses to go away
when you do not believe in it

On 9/17/2012 11:16 AM, Kenneth Ismert wrote:
> As I recall, we had a discussion about a year ago about the decline of the
> list. Options were discussed, but no action was taken.
>
> The consensus was to let AccessD wither through inaction. One year later, I
> agree with Tony: the group's plan worked, and AccessD has withered.
>
> So, even though there are a multitude of open source web platforms that
> could be used to re-purpose and invigorate the list, I again sense that the
> group consensus is to do nothing.
>
> In light of this, I propose new rules:
>   * We drop all requirements for topicality. This is a social group only.
> The only rule is that on every 100th post someone writes 'Access'
>   * Every year or so, another long-standing member must complain about the
> decline of the list
>   * Everyone else further agrees to discount the complaint, and deny that
> anything can be done about the decline
>
> Let's stop kidding ourselves here, and acknowledge what we have made the
> group into.
>
> -Ken