Re: DW Mailing List: Would it be better if it was not archived?
Hi all,
Miriam Ruiz wrote:
> One of the reasons -among others- that new women don't write in the
> mailing list might be that the messages are being publicly archived
> and exposed forever, and that could be quite intimidating. Do you
> think it might help if the messages weren't archived?
My opinion is that the value to the project of having the discussions archived
outweighs the potential problems with privacy involved. There are so very many
mailing lists, forums and so forth online where everything that people say is
archived. I would be surprised if the archiving was a big barrier to those who
are interested in contributing - it's something that we are all getting
increasingly used to.
Maybe we could try to solve the problem in another way. Are there any contact
people listed somewhere that newcomers could email directly for information if
they were interested but shy? Maybe highlighting that information more clearly
somewhere would help to encourage newcomers to post?
The other thing that I guess would be helpful would be encouraging people to
subscribe and lurk on the list. Maybe we can make it clearer that people are
welcome to do that. At least that way they will be reading posts and being
reminded about the existence of the project, and eventually I reckon that many
of the lurkers do end up posting something, it might just take them a few months
to get up to doing so.
Maybe it would help to point out that people can subscribe with a free email
address that doesn't have to identify them?
Helen
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