From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2006-07-26T08:48:23+09:00
Subject: Re: ruby nuby and mailing lists

On Wed, Jul 26, 2006 at 08:34:42AM +0900, Justin Collins wrote:
> Chad Perrin wrote:
> >1.  rubynuby.org seems to be down.  Am I the only one having problems
> >accessing it?
> 
> I'm getting:
> 
>    Application error
> 
> Rails application failed to start properly"

Same here.


> 
> >2.  I was at rubynuby.org because I was looking for a beginners' Ruby
> >mailing list to which I could direct a friend (something perhaps
> >equivalent to the perl-beginners list, but for Ruby).  I haven't been
> >able to find one anywhere else.  Is there such an animal (perhaps a
> >duck)?
> 
> This list is open to all levels of Rubyists, including newbies. While 
> there was at one time talk of splitting off a newbie list, the 
> conclusion (I believe) was: who better to help the newbies than the 
> people on this list?

Warning: this is going to be long-ish and rambling.

I have been on and off this list since I first heard of Ruby a couple
years ago.  I seem to recall there being more newbie-friendly traffic on
it last time than this time around.  What I'm seeing is a very high
density of discussion that, aside from solving installation problems,
would be mostly gibberish to a newbie.

One of the benefits of a newbie list (as I've discovered from offering
what knowledge I have on the perl-beginners lists) is that almost all
the traffic is something from which someone new to programming can
learn.  It's a little disappointing for me to not have that option for
something to offer to a new Rubyist.  In fact, it's a little
disappointing for my sake as well: I learn a lot about Perl from thinking
about how to answer some of the questions others ask, even when they get
answered by someone else before I get around to it.

This list clearly has the level of traffic to support more than one
list.  In fact, the high traffic is the reason I periodically
unsubscribe: when Ruby falls off the top of my priority list from time
to time, I start needing the inbox space again.  This isn't a complaint
about the list, but it does make me think that a Ruby newbie list might
be a good idea.

I guess I must have missed the previous discussion of a potential Ruby
list for newbies, or I might have supported the idea.  Then again, maybe
not: at the time, I didn't have any experience with newbie programming
lists, and didn't know what was missing.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Ben Franklin: "As we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of
others we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any
Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously."