Forgive me for being critical of the presentation of this new technology from the outset but the message that came out in the beginning (at least that I got) was that delivery of postings by email will at some point cease. That is what I so strongly objected to. If it's the case that one can either get the posting sent to ones email either in digest format (as you suggest) or as individual messages, whether as HTML links or plain text formats, then I have no objection and can recognize some benefits to the organizational properties. It was the notion that to follow a thread I would have to log into the website and root around to monitor the progress that was the main objection that I had and, I think, many others had. I think this all could have been avoided if some greater attention had been paid to communicating what the change actually meant in terms of actual use. Anyway, if I have that correct, then I doth not protest. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Israel Stein Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 10:46 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] CAUT Digest, Vol 29, Issue 68 On 3/10/2011 10:46 AM, caut-request at ptg.org wrote: > Israel: > > I did want to ask a question. You mention that the list group is relatively > small. How large is it actually? Do you know? I'm curious. Because while > the number who actively contribute to the list in terms of postings may be > relatively small, the number of readers who rely on it as an ongoing source > of education and information may not be that small. There are many people > who post once in a great while who invariably comment that they are avid > readers of the list but don't post very often. I would assume there is a > group that reads but doesn't post at all. Do we know the actual number of > registered subscribers? My guess is that it's larger than you suggest. > > David Love > www.davidlovepianos.com David, Excellent question. I know exactly how many subscribers there are (it's very easy for any subscriber to find out0 - and their number is rather large. But they will get their knowledge in the most convenient place - and in terms of navigation and searcheability and sheer convenience of accessing and reading the information the new format is so superior to the e-mail lists that it is only a matter of time before this large group of lurkers melts away. I am currently subscribed to 5 groups on the new system which send me daily digests, and three more that don't. I get my digests in my e-mail box once a day, and when I have time I check on the digest that is of the greatest interest to me. I quickly glance through the subject lines and posters' names at the top of the digest - and clicking on the ones that I want to read, I get taken directly to the message. No more scrolling through multiple screenfuls of stuff I have no interest in, or several iterations of the same stuff that appears in message after message because those replying neglected to delete entire preceding threads. And if I want to see the entire thread - I click on the appropriate link, and I am taken to the website where I can see the entire thread arranged for me in another such link-accessible manner. No more depending on little out-of-context snippets being responded to or or digging through saved messages (or archives) to find out the context or clarify the foregoing - it's all arranged for me in an easily accessible manner, so I can refer to as much or as little of it as I care, without having to wade through screenfuls of irrelevant, unrelated and downright useless stuff. I can get a lot more useful to me information in a lot less time - that's the bottom line. Add to this the fact that the archive search function is so superior to the listserve - fast, well focused searching by various parameters that can focus rather narrowly on that which you seek - and there is absolutely no reason for a lurker or infrequent poster to stay on the listserves once enough knowledgeable and articulate posters have moved there. And I see some popping up there already - including some who have abandoned the listserve long ago. The new format - given sufficient quality content - is a lurker's paradise. And quality content is beginning to show up there - and it's only a matter of time before a critical mass of quality content is reached there, so that the lurkers move there wholesale to get at it in a far more convenient, efficient, and personally configurable manner. See, I described the manner in which i use the new setup - but there is a number of other ways that it can be used. Wim Blees has described the way he likes to use it - which is different from me. And there are many other ways. Once this becomes widely known, watch the rush... I can confidently predict this, because this has happened innumerable times on hundreds of user groups that underwent this sort of paradigm shift - and - besides my wife - there are PTG members who can tell you all about it and who are wondering about all this fuss. By the way, all those people who think that the conversational quality of the exchange will be lost in the new setup - nonsense. It is actually enhanced. Going through the threads you can clearly discern the flow of dialogue - with the additional advantage that you see it in the order that it happens, in its fullness - without all the edits that happens when people reply, and without having to wade through all the intervening posts that have nothing to do with that particular conversation. OK, there are currently 291 "individual message" subscribers and 114 digest subscribers on the CAUT list. Come back in 2 months and see how many are left, once they figure out how wonderfully efficient this new format is and that there is lots of knowledge to be had there without all the encumbrances of e-mail lists... Israel Stein
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