[AccessD] The list

Kenneth,

Several things.

 >It's frustrating to have some astute individual say 'the list is not serving its purpose'

I would respond by saying that the list serves it's purpose as well as it ever has.  Anyone who 
wants quality assistance with Access, and is willing to sign up for an email list to get it can get 
that assistance here.

I guess my problem with this is that I don't request (Access) assistance much any more, so I really 
don't monitor how well we answer questions.  Is the issue that questions do not get answered or that 
nobody requests assistance?

One aspect of the list that has been maintained better than most lists out there is the "family" 
aspect.  OTOH for those who don't like that, and we have had a few, that is obviously a negative 
rather than a plus.

 >and have the first response be 'adios, see ya.'

I find it enlightening that when the dust settled the individual that started this thread had 
decided that perhaps he liked the list despite the perceived shortcomings.

 > Right now, I am at the 'you guys (the board) need to acknowledge that the ship is sinking' stage.

I hear you.  The last time I checked I was a board member.  I acknowledge that the ship is slowly 
sinking.  We have turned into a good ol' boys club.  Truth be known I am old.  We don't get a lot of 
new members, though I can't really quote membership numbers.  And a lot of traffic is certainly off 
topic though I am not unhappy about that since most of the time it is still mostly useful.

 > What I will do is join an appropriate email list to see if we can achieve some consensus that 
there is a problem. Which one do you recommend?

For the purpose of trying to right the ship I don't get that any list is better than any other.  We 
have a bunch of lists, but joining another list to do this is probably not going to help.  I think 
if you truly care about this then you should just come to the list with a well thought out plan. 
Open a discussion on how to get more members.  Can we agree that is the crux of the matter?  Discuss 
how to improve our web site to make it more attractive, draw more traffic.  Discuss any technology 
which you believe will rescue the list.  Perhaps we should have a discussion about whether the list 
is even relevant any more, whether attempting to rescue it is even something worth doing.

I truly do not know whether you were around when we started the company and acquired the list but 
the basics of the story is that AccessD was started and being run by some guy out of Texas (IIRC) 
who wanted Access support for himself.  Any old timers with better memories are welcome to jump in 
here.

This was in the mid 90s.  He set up the email server on servers where he worked and he personally 
ran them, maintained order etc.  He *was* the list infrastructure.  One day the list went down.  Not 
the first time IIRC.  Basically he was having a bad day, was pissed off and there was some kind of 
cat fight going on and he just pulled the plug.  He decided he was tired of doing it.

We had a handful of people (including myself) who emailed each other and decided to ask this guy 
whether we could get the email addresses and resurrect the list and run it ourselves.  He agreed and 
gave us the list of emails.  We all chipped in whatever we could afford and created a corporation, 
issued shares (for the donations), created a board etc.

The resurrected AccessD was born.

The point however is not history but they why.  Back in 97ish time frame the old AccessD was one of 
two such places you could go to get help.  There was no internet in the sense we have it today.  For 
example I was in Mexico at the time dialing in to the internet over a modem.  Cable internet 
certainly existed but was far from ubiquitous. AccessD provided a near critical lifeline for our 
members who were mostly developers trying to learn, develop in and support Microsoft Access 95 / 97.

The world and the internet has changed massively since then.  Perhaps AccessD really isn't all that 
important any more.  There are literally dozens or even hundreds of support sites, Google can tell 
you anything you want to know, we can stream videos and source code at lightning speed.  Our very 
reason for existing has mostly vanished.

That's a good thing, not a bad thing.

Sooo... I am not advocating just sinking into the sunset, but I am saying that we should take a hard 
look at the big picture and decide unemotionally what we want to be and how realistic it is that we 
can be that thing.

Your turn Kenneth.  I am listening and I think the rest of the list is as well.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting

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

On 9/19/2012 11:14 AM, Kenneth Ismert wrote:
>> John W. Colby:
>> ...However to approach it with "you guys need to do
>> something" won't work...
>>
>
> Right now, I am at the 'you guys (the board) need to acknowledge that the
> ship is sinking' stage. I know my approach is abrasive, but I haven't found
> any other way to elicit any kind of discussion on this topic. It's
> frustrating to have some astute individual say 'the list is not serving its
> purpose', and have the first response be 'adios, see ya.'
>
> ...Believe it or not I am attempting to encourage you to
>> take charge. I have worked on several projects for the
>> group and it absolutely is possible to implement change...
>>
>
> What I will do is join an appropriate email list to see if we can achieve
> some consensus that there is a problem. Which one do you recommend?
>
> Jim Lawrence:
>> Are you just an arm-chair critic?
>>
>
> Certainly not. Couch.
>
> -Ken
>