Frontier Mailing Lists
More signal, less noise
I've been subscribed to Frontier mailing lists since 1995.Lists are how I got started
When I started using Frontier, I joined Frontier-talk at the same time. I was really jazzed about using Frontier, but for the most part, I couldn' make heads or tails of it.
I still enjoyed Frontier-Talk, though. Even though I felt most of it was way over my head, I thought it was cool to watch people for around the world helping each other out.
People were really helpful, well informed, and just plain kind.
Gradually, I started to figure out what was going on. I learned.
Signal to Noise
Frontier lists have traditionally had a very high quality level. Lots of questions, lots of answers, not much else. A bit of humor every now and again.
Short, concise answers: a verb, a URL.
Lots of snippets of code. (Let me say while I think MIMI is interesting I'd much rather look at the code than clutter up the lists with it. If it 's worth saving it's worth putting up on a web page.)
Frontier lists have never had a FAQ. I don't know why. I think we are all too lazy to do it. (Lee Joramo did the Clay Basket FAQ for awhile).
People
It's been interesting to see who uses Frontier.
Once I discovered scripting, I was amazed to see what programs--and programmers knew Frontier. My jaw about fell off when one of my questions got answered by programming deity Leonard Rosenthal.
Leonard's been around for awhile--I know that if I ever want to get his attention I just need to write a mail with the subject: 'OSAMenu'. :-)
Some people are still around--Nobumi Iyanaga, Cameron Smith--while other old timers have moved on--Mason Hale, Manton Reese, Steven Noryenko. Other people float in and out.
Some people have been consistently helpful: chaz larson, Daniel Berlinger, many others.
What's the name of the guy who does http://www.nothingness.org ? He used to be around often. I like the poetry on his site.
Other people I think of for specific things: Quark - Brian Buck, Excel Object Model - Henri Asseilly, TCPCMD - Alan German, clip2gif - Preston Holmes...
Men have always outnumbered women on the Frontier lists. It's been a pleasure to have the company of members of the fairer gender among us: Dori Smith, Thea, Susie Gardner-Brown, Lynn Siprelle, and the woman who'll work for chocolate: Diana of Acme Scripting.
Diana introduced me to the fileloop verb in her Frontier Learning links so long ago. Her page was probably the first tutorial I every found on Frontier.
Frontier users are all over: Sugiura-san in Toronto--doing cool things with Japanese websites, Nobumi in Tokyo, Sean Floyd and Andre Radke in Germany, Christopher Short in New Zealand, Phillipe Martin in France, and many more I'm sure. The first Bay Area frontier Users Group meeting is coming up, I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.
Archives
While there have been several archiving attempts for the Frontier lists, I've never been happy with any of them.
Probably the best were the ones hosted by Blueworld way back, and Scott S.'s down in Australia. They were archived and had an excellent search interface.
Archives or no archives, alot of good info disappears on the mailing lists. There's got to be a better way to keep the knowledge that's shared from disappearing.
Putting up websites about Frontier, and having them well organized is one of the best ways I know to do it. That's why this site is here.
Good lists are important to me
I enjoy the lists. I appreciate the chance to solve problems with my peers on the Net, to explore new ideas and fix bugs. Most of all, I like helping people get started in Frontier.
Some people post too much, or quote long sections of the thread, or just don't ask questions very clearly. I find that really annoying. I find that I can usually half the number of messages I post and half their length by letting them sit after I write them, checking my sample code--and then editing them once before I send them out.
I'd rather that the lists stay clear of flames or battles of opinion. For me, the list is about using frontier--that's it. Alot of the noise on the lists of late could probably be better resolved in private mail. Emotions don't carry so well in email--and I find that the list is more productive when everyone has their emotions filed away and is acting on a more concretely, more rationally.
I've often thought that if we all had to express everything on these lists in Usertalk, there'd be a lot fewer problems. ;-)
On the other hand, some ideas DO need discussion. Perhaps summarizing them on a web page is a better way of working through things. As ideas get bigger and become separate projects, it be nice to see them split off into separate lists and then get a report back of results.
However, censorship is not something I want to see on the lists. Ever. I'd rather suffer a little misuse of the lists than that.
I think the key is just to remember: signal to noise. Keep the quality high, the mood friendly, and the questions (and answers) coming.
See you all on the lists!
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This is Phil's Frontier Scripting Site. San Francisco, CA
Copyright © 1996-98, Phil Suh. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.filsa.net/frontier/ii/1998/07/mailingLists.html
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