[Mb-hair] Hair Blog/Hair List

[Nina Dayton]

 > it's been a mailing list for ten years, and it's always  
 > done the job, so why change?

There are several ways I can answer that. The first, and the one I would 
give as a list member as opposed to as its moderator, would be that it 
is being changed because Michael, who generously covers the not 
inconsiderable costs associated with giving us this living room in 
cyberspace, wants it, after much consultation with his web master and 
server, to change.

The answer I would give as the lists moderator is considerably longer, 
and includes some of the thought that Michael put into this decision. 
And it hasn't always "done the job" as well as it might. There have been 
many consistent problems with the listserve format. A small selection of 
those issues would include:

People with slower connections complaining about large attachments

People with limited mailbox size complaining about large attachments

Having to temporarily unsubscribe when going on vacation so that 
accounts don't fill up

Bounced emails disabling accounts constantly

The inability to archive not only photos sent to the list, but any email 
that comes encoded with html formatting. This latter is serious from an 
archival standpoint, as such important list members as Tioga have email 
that comes as html, so for some time now his posts, which are often the 
very ones we want to have permanent access to for research purposes, 
have not been archived in the list archives. And no, the software 
couldn't be changed to accommodate this.

The constant difficulties associated with almost all aol subscribers - 
difficulties in their subscribing, getting the confirmation email, and 
the regular mass unsubscribing aol does regularly of all aol list members.

And spam! We get a lot. You aren't seeing it, but the list server 
receives a great deal of spam. Some of you may recall the problems we 
had in the past with it that necessitated a server switch, with many 
people threatening to unsubscribe. You don't see that spam any more 
because every time a piece of spam comes through the server I am sent a 
notice, and I have to go and look at it, determine whether it is spam or 
not, and delete it from the server so that it doesn't go through to all 
of the almost 100 subscribers. While this may take less than five 
minutes, and may seem insignificant in terms of my time, it doesn't 
always feel that way when I have to do it 20 or 30 times a day. Please 
understand - I am not complaining. I am happy to do that as part of 
being the moderator, and giving back to the Hair community for all it 
gives me. I only share this so that you can all understand some of the 
thought process that went into changing the format of the list.

My personal experience in life has taught me that change is not always 
easy for me. I like the status quo, and when that changes I am often 
discombobulated. Until the new becomes the status quo, that is. We have 
a running joke in my family about this - Trevor had one specific style 
of Levi jeans that he had worn forever. A few years ago, horror of 
horrors, they discontinued his beloved style. He got the closest thing 
he could find it, but everything about the new style was wrong - they 
didn't fit right in the thighs, the pockets weren't right, and on and 
on. A year or so later Levi began making the old preferred style again 
and he happily went out and bought them again. But low and behold, over 
the year he had been wearing the "new" style they had, in fact, become 
the "old style", and the old preferred style now felt all wrong, and the 
new style had become the comfortable familiar. My immediate response to 
the new style of a blog format for the list was like Trevor's response 
to his new jeans - this didn't feel familiar or comfortable. But after a 
very short time there I was able to see that it was a comfortable and 
easy interface, and one I am sure will solve all of the above listed 
problems, as well as many more that I have not listed here. I have 
gotten several emails from list members praising the new blog format, 
one even  telling me that the current format was leading them to 
consider unsubscribing, but that they will now stay with us. I know that 
there are those of you who would prefer things stay in the current 
listserve format, but I encourage you to go to the blog and check it 
out. It was suggested earlier in this discussion that it be moved to 
yahoo groups. If you are comfortable with the yahoo format you will be 
comfortable with the Wordpress blog format. You won't have to miss the 
emails, as they are there, just online rather than in your email 
mailbox. Bookmark the blog site, and check in when it is convenient to 
you. We all check our email regularly, this is the same as that, just at 
a different place. If you have any questions or need support in 
understanding the new blog format in any way let me know! Email me at 
dayton3 at rcn.com and I will happily help.

I urge you to try it, and to support Michael in the choices he makes for 
his server, and to trust him that he makes these choices for valid and 
important reasons, and only after much careful thought.

Love,
Nina

The Hair Archives
http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair