On Wednesday 23 March 2005 17:33, Khepri wrote:
> Steve Litt wrote:
> > I actually found flalug through you. Looking through the archives of
> > another list, I asked myself, "who's this Chad Perrin who doesn't put up
> > with a lot of *(*#$^ from the local troll". So I googled you, found you
> > on flalug, liked flalug, and joined.
>
> Okay, here's something I've been curious about because I don't know the
> story. But it's even hinted at on the frontpage of this groups site.
>
> What went on over there that appears to have caused a split?
As one of the founders of flalug, I will summarize why Dave Meyer and I
started this list:
December 2002. I had been on the mailing list of another local lug for over
two and a half years. Every month, the list administrator who was also one
of the founders of the lug I am speaking of, would post a lengthy list
conduct policy. I opined that all those rules were micromanagement, but
tolerated it because it was the only local list. Another problem was that
the list policies were arbitrarily enforced. The list admin would usually
exempt himself and friends of his, but retaliate against those outside his
private circle. Fore example, Dave got in trouble for posting computer
equipment for sale and wanted to post jobs. He ended up unsubscribing after
being reprimanded on the list for his "offense". I emailed Dave privately
that I did not see any problem with his posting things for sale and he
proposed that we simply start a new group and list. I suggested the name
FLALUG for Florida Linux Users Group and Dave set up the initial website and
listserv. Dave and I agreed to keep the list rules down to a bare minimum,
just enough to keep the list productive. After the website and list were
up, I announced it on the list of the other lug. I got flamed by someone
right after that, and at that point, did not care if I remained on that list
or not, so I flamed back. I was unsubscribed based on a voice vote during an
evening conference call initiated by the list admin to "deal with this Smitty
problem". (this information was shared with me in confidence by one of the
inner circle people who shall forever remain nameless)
In January 2003, the Weekly Planet newspaper did a front page story on the
"shootout at the linux coral" which documented, with some embellishment, what
transpired during the parting of company. We have had only one upset on the
list. in mid-2003, when a fellow who had volunteered to host our list decided
to dictate and enforce his own content policy. I advised him to knock it off
and he shut the list down as a response. I then contacted nks.net who set us
up on a mail server and things have been fine since.
We are proof that you only need a few simple, sensible policies to maintain a
mailing list. And here we are today.
Smitty
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