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Number   :  90
Date     :  2001-05-19
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  A thought about this group.
Size(KB) :  6



Hello, Jim (the Moderator) and other group members:

A new test version we are now working on has the following
text at the end of the /HELP text.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! sponsors a group dedicated for the discussion of XXCOPY.
It is supported by XXCOPY enthusiasts. While the group is not
affiliated to Pixelab, we endorse the group as a useful asset to
all XXCOPY users. As a member, you may view previous articles,
ask your own questions, or subscribe to the discussion Email.

Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xxcopy and become a member.

+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Freeware Version (for personal use or product evaluation) |
| For routine commercial usage in a corporate environment, |
| please acquire a Corporate Site License from Pixelab, Inc. |
...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It sounds good, doesn't it?

But, I have a very serious second thought on this idea.
I'm now leaning toward discarding this idea.

Here's why.

I have been hoping this group is and will continue to be an
*INDEPENDENT* discussion group. And early on, I decided to
do whatever I can to help the group to be a viable group so
that I can endorse to others and also contribute to the
group's discussion from time to time. But, so far, there
is a clear sign that it is not going to work like that.
This may be a surprising observation to many. But, from my
perspective it is unmistakable.

While one might argue that it is too early to tell, I can see
no sign of the "collective behavior" within the group which
has some encouraging element.

1. I set up the little poll and so far my vote was the only
one which says "heard from a friend" and everybody else
are from the Email invitation that I myself sent.

2. As I have pointed out earlier in a couple of posts in this
group, the group needs a promotion. There must be some
consistent, programmed, deliberate and permanent ways to
do the promotion to invite new members. But, I have seen
*NONE*. None whatsoever.

3. As far as I know, there have been three major promotions
that took place for this group

1. A post in newsgroups (5 different groups) by Jim
(a.k.a. Spoon).

2. My mass Emailing to some 700 XXCOPY users. I believe
the great majority of the members are from this one.

3. My last mass Emailing from my old (DATMAN) mailing list
for some 13,000 or so people --- this was pretty much
a disaster --- I believe a very few have responded to
this and I've received a warning from my ISP and I'm
now labeled a "spammer" from my ISP :-( I still
continue to receive over 100 bounced emails every day...

4. Observing the membership count, it has already reached
a plateau and we cannot expect the member count to go
substantially higher without a new form of promotion.
Let us remind ourselves that currently there is no
mechanism which attracts new members to this group.

5. Despite my pleas earlier, there seems to be no change in
the attitude in the membership here. I could not locate
a single announcement, mention in a passage in an articles
in existing newsgroups outside this group.

The above points lead me to believe that there is no
awareness within existing members that this group badly
needs its own recruiting mechanism, just like any other
voluntary organization for a long term survival.

Apparently the group is made of 100% lurkers and passive
browsers who just sit there, spoon-fed some food for thoughts
from time to time. Although I believe the various posts
we have seen in this group are certainly worthwhile material,
I just cannot continue to spend my time to post tech support
material for such a "small" audience so far less than 100
people max and no sign of growing). I would rather post the
same info at newsgroups where the exposure is much much bigger.

If some members painstakingly re-post the material that
appears in this group to the usenet newsgroups, I will
continue to post to this group from time to time.

But, when the existing members continue to relax and
let others to worry about the future of this group,
then, I cannot honestly consider it is a viable "independent"
discussion group.

I have no question in my mind that if the new promotional
help text as shown at the top of this mail is inserted,
that will guarantee a supply of new members to this group.
That is not bad by itself. But, if that is the only source
of new members to this group, I'm sorry that it is not an
independently run discussion group. It would be more
appropriately called Pixelab-sponsored discussion group.

As I said before, it is extremely easy for anyone to
create a discussion group, and it is even easier to let it
die. So far, I have seen no encouraging sign of collective
will to make this group survive within the membership.

The normal activities of the members to post new
article/questions and post responses to them are of course
important. But, each and every member also must have
additional duty to contribute to the group by establishing
a long-lasting mechanism of bringing in more new members.

Therefore, I will wait and see if that really happens.
I will hold off the inclusion of the /HELP text which is
shown above until I see a clear sign within this group to be
an "independently" run viable group which has a good promise
for a prosperous future.

Please note that any version of XXCOPY, once it is released,
will last for years. I certainly do not want to have an
invitation text inside the XXCOPY program which later turns
to be a dead link.

On the other hand, I will definitely continue to post some
key announcements to this group -- such as a new beta test
release. From our point of view, a group like this (in the
current form) is much more useful as a site for discussions
about a beta test version --- also the relatively small size
is ideal for us for that purpose. I hope you guys disagree
with that!!!

At any rate, I wish this post will stir some discussion
during the weekend which hopefully makes the members to be
more aware of what is badly needed by the group.

Cheers,
Kan Yabumoto

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