You're Right -- It was HARSH

[Richard Gaskin]

Judy Perry wrote:
> Richard:
> 
> I unequivocably apologize.

No worries. You warned us in Monterey about your "fangs", but I have yet 
to see them. :)  I figured you'd just had a long day.  I've had more 
than a few of those myself; fully understood.

As for the formation of the new list, I'd like to address it briefly 
here and this will be my last word on the subject on this list, though 
I'll happily continue it on the rev-biz list:
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rev-biz/>


When I first noticed that discussion of using Rev was being displaced by 
a lot of recommendations for how RunRev should run their business, I 
figured I was the only person who minded.  When I started seeing others 
express a similar feeling, I began to reconsider.

The tipping point for me was when I discovered that we sometimes lose 
subscribers over it, such as this comment posted on another forum about 
the use-rev list:

   I am so turned off by the mailing list for RunRev.
   Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm just getting too old,
   but that list just seems so full of posturing,
   politics and some serious personal podiums!

   There's just far too much bs and bantering going
   on on that list, and I'll be honest, I excpected
   it to be far more civil and mature than what I
   have seen since I subscribed.

   One or two replies by myself trying to help out
   went by without even an acknowlegement, or even
   a "piss off!".

   Though what few questions I have asked have been
   answered, but now there's just far too much junk
   flowing through there that I don't even want
   to ask questions.

<http://www.scottserver.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=70>


This list is valuable for all of us, and can be especially valuable to 
newcomers, and it's at it's best as a resource for learning about using Rev.

Sure, from time to time topics other than using Rev will creep in, but 
if they come to dominate the list many feel they detract from its 
overall value, and we risk losing more members who just want to have fun 
scripting.

Many of the ideas for how RunRev could more effectively manage their 
business may have merit, but choosing this user-to-user forum as the 
venue for such recommendations may not be as effective as simply writing 
to RunRev directly. Only RunRev can put such recommendations into practice.

Imagine if everytime your spouse had a problem with you they chose to 
address it by taking out billboard space in the public square.  Would it 
help put you at ease so you could hear the merit of the message?

Of course there's a lot to be said for refining ideas for improved 
business performance first, and bouncing ideas off of other users before 
presenting them to RunRev may help make for a more compelling 
presentation.  But running any business is not a simple thing, and a dev 
tools business is particularly difficult and complex, so such 
discussions will tend to be lengthy by nature.

Given all this, it seemed worth suggesting a separate forum for those 
discussions, just as there are specialized forums for other special 
interest groups (RevIPC, MC IDE, etc.), as is common in any growing 
community.

Yahoo Groups is easy to set up, and most of the posts in such threads 
come from a relatively small number of people who already have Yahoo 
accounts for groups like HyperCard, SuperCard, RevIPC, xTalks, RevDocs, 
RSS dev, and others (including a great many forums for products like 
Interachy and Carrara), and it only takes a minute for anyone else to 
sign up fresh to join any of those discussions.

If anyone wants to change the venue I have no objection, but I do feel 
that discussion would be better handled on the current rev-biz list:

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rev-biz/>


-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com