[pianotech] List changes - it's a lot bigger than just the lists...

[Israel Stein]

On 11:59 AM, Ron Nossaman wrote:
> On 3/9/2011 8:36 PM, Israel Stein wrote:
>
>
>> And yes there are issues there - but 
>> I see
>> that Ron Nossaman has gotten out of 
>> his "this is crap" mode and started
>> asking constructive questions about 
>> how it could possibly be made to
>> work.
>
> Charming, as always.
Pot calling the kettle black, sir...
>
> In the old format, I've learned 
> valuable things from people I might 
> not otherwise read at all from their 
> long record of having nothing much 
> interesting or lucid to say. The value 
> of information is not contingent on 
> it's source, but on it's validity, and 
> unlikely people know interesting 
> things on occasion that I'm grateful 
> to learn. The threading, discussion 
> grouping, and other social filtering 
> trends are real horizon limiters in my 
> opinion, as very busy people limit 
> their exposure to ideas to what they 
> are concerned with at this hour. Next 
> week will naturally be different as 
> the crisis hot line turns. Some folks 
> are actually interested in and able to 
> learn, change, and adapt to what's 
> important to them without being forced 
> into a new and improved format that 
> has to be kicked out of the way to get 
> to the process. I offered some 
> modified possibilities, which I 
> haven't heard back on, incidentally, 
> that would allow the "fogies" all the 
> raw data and interactivity necessary 
> to maintain their current and changing 
> state of knowledge, and still let the 
> new age pursue their passions. The 
> thing is really not that far off from 
> being usable for everyone with some 
> changes, if that's an allowable 
> concept. Awaiting enlightenment on 
> that one, but I suspect I already know 
> the answer.
We will find out - won't we? I am glad 
that you offered your suggestions - and 
I noted that in the original post. I am 
not happy that an atmosphere of mockery 
and derision was created before those 
suggestions were offered.
> I know the old system has burned out 
> the folks that made it work, but it 
> still strikes me as curious that the 
> users weren't polled before the money 
> was spent and major changes were made. 
> If our preferences don't count, why 
> bother to maintain discussion lists at 
> all?
Don't know - i wasn't part of the 
process. But instead of immediately 
jumping on people - perhaps it might be 
useful to first find out what factors 
were used in the decision? And how do 
you know that some users were not 
polled? As much as a small core of users 
like to believe that this list is theirs 
- there is a huge body of subscribers 
who might not agree with you, and also 
quite a sizable body of former 
subscribers who have been driven off 
this list by the format and the 
attitudes of some of the "major 
contributors".

Israel Stein