[plug] Re: Noise!

[Paul Wilson]

> At 13:20 7/08/98 +0800, you wrote:
> >I suppose that it also depends on what purpose you see for a list like
> >this. I feel that it's more useful being informal and chatty, more like
a
> >group of friends/colleagues than a formal meeting of some kind.
> 
> I've got no problem with an informal list but "chatty" just will not work
> as the number of list subscribers grows.
> 
> >Personally, the number of messages gives me no problem, neither does the
> >'signal to noise ratio'. Anyway, compared with Usenet the ratio is
pretty
> >good.   :-)
> 
> Of course it's pretty good - Usenet has the whole wired world
"subscribed"
> - that's why the signal to noise ratio perhaps isn't as important as the
> signal to noise ratio PER PERSON SUBSCRIBED.  I'd say if you were able to
> calculate some sort of semi-objective values for this of both this list
and
> Usenet, Usenet would put us to shame.

Only on moderated newsgroups - which is perhaps your point. Realistically,
the s/n ratio improves when there is a moderator for lists or newsgroups
because there's a human in the loop discarding material that doesn't fit.
Yes, we can all take staps to improve it, and perhaps this conversation
could be perceived as wrong here, but I think that it's fine because it's
discussing the future of the list.

If people want to control the list content, then who's willing/got the time
to act as the filter?

Paul