Time to shut down this list?

[Joshua Tinnin]

On Thursday 23 December 2004 06:22 pm, "Darren Pilgrim" 
<dmp at bitfreak.org> wrote:
> > From: S Jagger
> >
> > I will voice my opinion on this matter.
> >
> > The freebsd-newbies list should be an open area for new users to
> > FreeBSD. As I read earlier.. people are intimidated by
> > posting to other
> > groups.
> >
> > This list should be for anything and everything. Questions or
> > Suggestions.
> >
> > Stefan
>
> The end of this thread contains the phrase, "The charter of this list
> was hashed out years ago, is now well-established, works reasonably
> well

At the risk of sounding impertinent, I disagree that it works reasonably 
well. I do think there is some value in a newbie list, but 50%+ of the 
traffic on this list for extended periods of time is technical 
questions, a few scattered answers and admonitions to ask the questions 
list. For some people, the questions list is overwhelming and 
intimidating. I think this list would work reasonably well under the 
current charter if it were moderated. I don't have much history with 
the FreeBSD community, but since I brought it up, I'm willing to offer 
to do that. I do have extensive experience moderating email lists. But 
I also think that this list would "work" better if it had a slightly 
different charter which allowed for entry-level tech questions, and a 
clause that reiterates all users should be polite to people who ask 
what might seem like silly questions. I think that's what newbies need 
more than anything: a place to ask questions about rudimentary problems 
without feeling a sense of intimidation about doing it. Some of the 
questions would be/are basic *nix stuff, which isn't necessarily 
on-topic in questions, but it would be nice for those very new (to *nix 
in general) users to have a place to ask about that sort of thing. 
Anyway, my two cents. Other than that, if nothing else I hope that this 
list can survive in some useful form.

- jt

> and isn't likely to change much any time soon." 
>
> This thread can be expected to cover these additional points:
>
> -  The -questions list has a bug: when a common or newbie
> non-technical question is posted, a race condition occurs in which
> everyone tries to wait for someone else to answer the question.
>
> -  Those of us who read and answer technical questions posted here
> are urged do so with redirection to -questions.  Failure to do so
> usually results in careful application of clue-oriented, dimensional
> wood-products.
>
> -  Also recommended are pointers to additional resources, such as
> searchable mailing list archives and pointers to other threads or
> guides adressing the queried subject.