From: Trans <transfire@...>
Date: 2006-12-22T03:19:59+09:00
Subject: Re: where have all the experienced users gone?


Robert Dober wrote:

> Hi Tom ;) (Guy is "ts" BTW) maybe the later, ruby-beginner might be too
> negative, what you think?

Yes. that's possible true, although it might also be comforting to
those who are beginners.

Name not withstanding, the significant difficulty with a separate
mailing list is getting people to use it and for the purposes intended.
I have some experience in this. I once attempted to start a ruby-rcr
list. It was only mildly successful, but it was clear that it could not
flourish without wider support from the core community, so it
eventually evaporated (which is unfortunate as I think it's needed more
than ever now). A new vs. experienced split of ruby-talk will have some
of the same problems. Without committed support it won't work. And
ensuring that experienced users visit the beginners list is an added
challenge.

Having reread over all the posts to this thread here is the conclusion
I am drawing....

At some point the split may be necessary, maybe we are at that point.
But one of the great things about this list has been the cordial
intermingling of new and expert user. I think many would agree that it
would be nice if we could keep it that way. Perhaps we can find a way
to "upscale" the list to work better for both beginner and experienced
users alike.

In a post script, Jeremy McAnally had written,

"It would also be mildly entertaining to have an auto-answer FAQ bot
that parsed the language of a message and if it could decently figure
out what they're saying, post an answer pointing  to a (currently
non-existent) Ruby FAQ..."

I realize that automated replies don't have the niceties of human
interaction, but I think something like this could go a long way toward
improving list usage. Rather then automated answers just against a FAQ,
automate them against the mailing list itself via the archives. An
automated answer could then provide a list of links to related old
posts. Even as an experienced user I would find this kind of
representation helpful! Also, with these automated replies, experienced
users who are already setting up "weak" list filters, could create
stronger ones based on whether a new topic received an automated reply
or not, and what the automated reply concluded about it. (In fact I
imagine a Bayesian filter would be part of the bots implementation.) I
think it would be better for us to try something like this, and see how
it fairs, before taking the leap to two lists.

What do others think? And also, is anyone up to the challenge?

T.