If a gateway is established, then
- all postings to the newsgroup would be automatically forwarded to the
mailing list, and
- all mail sent to the mailing list would be automatically posted to the
newsgroup.
This includes follow-up postings and replies to mailing list mail.
If we have a gateway
--------------------
The very nature of a gateway increases the traffic on both the mailing list and
the newsgroup. It may increase the traffic significantly.
The quality of traffic may change as well. I mean "quality" in a broader sense
than simply "high" and "low" -- the general nature of the traffic may change.
There may be more "newbie" questions, more inappropriately-placed postings, or
more "Zoomer versus something else" postings, simply because it takes a bit
more volition to subscribe to a mailing list than it does to browse a
newsgroup.
There may also be other positive changes in the quality of traffic. The
diversity of readership may increase, and there may be a lot of poeple who
won't or can't subscribe to mailing lists but who would be valuable
contributors to a newsgroup.
If we don't have a gateway
--------------------------
Traffic on the mailing list will likely decrease, since many current
subscribers indicated a strong interest in using a newsgroup instead of a
mailing list.
Qualitative changes in the traffic are much more difficult to predict. There
will certainly be some cross-pollination between the two forums, since some
people will participate in both, but it's also likely that some information
will only be available in one forum or the other.
It's possible that a larger cultural difference may form betwen the mailing
list and the newsgroup. I've seen some situations where the mailing list
becomes the "expert" (or even "elite") forum and the newsgroup becomes the more
general-interest forum.
Again, this is too difficult to predict.
How to deal with increased traffic
----------------------------------
If you would want to continue to subscribe to the mailing list and are
concerned about a dramatic increase in traffic from a gateway, there are some
options that you should be aware of:
(1) A digest version of zoomer-list is and will continue to be available. You
get all of the traffic, but you get it in small collections rather than in
individual messages. For some, this helps. You can switch to digest mode
by sending mail to listserv@grot.starconn.com with "set zoomer-list mail
digest" in the body of the mail message.
(2) For those of you who have access to the World Wide Web, the mailing list
is archived in a hyperlinked form and can be accessed that way as an
alternative to subscribing to the mailing list or participating in the
newsgroup.
One last thing
--------------
If the newsgroup is established without a gateway to the mailing list, I would
set up a seperate archive for the newsgroup traffic on the Zoomer WWW site. It
would not be available via e-mail (i.e. listserv) requests.
The survey
----------
I won't SHOUT it this time, but please send your survey responses directly to
me at brian@grot.starconn.com and not to the zoomer-list itself. Indicate your
choices with an "x" or something:
If a comp.sys.zoomer newsgroup is established, are you in favor of or opposed
to the creation of a gateway between the newsgroup and the zoomer-list?
_ in favor of a gateway
_ opposed to a gateway
_ no opinion or indifferent
Thanks,
-- -Brian Smithson brian@grot.starconn.com