[META-SIG] Re: SGML-SIG? was: Re: xml lib

[Skip Montanaro]

    Paul> Guido van Rossum wrote:
    >> Use the doc-sig; SGML has been discussed there many times.
    Paul> I would rather have a special SIG with its own mandate and Time To
    Paul> Live.
    >> BTW the recent fate of the plot-sig and the thread-sig (both of which
    >> took off and then quickly faded away completely) makes me believe that
    >> we should stop creating SIGs.
    Paul> Why not just evaporate dead ones?

I think the model that is used in Usenet (or at least used to be, when
Usenet wasn't so swamped with spam) was a good one.  When a newsgroup got
overrun with a topic more specialized than the group's more general focus, a
new newsgroup was created.  The same should work here.  Carry discussions on
the main list until they demonstrate they will sustain a fair amount of
traffic, then create a sig.  You should perhaps also have a vote.  It
doesn't have to be as formalized a process as that used in Usenet, but it
should give some idea of what sort of long-term interest there will be in
the subject matter.

Every time you create a sig you migrate the discussion out of
comp.lang.python to a mailing list with a much smaller audience. People
reading comp.lang.python can easily read and respond to stuff they see in
the newsgroup, but will have to subscribe to a new mailing list (admittedly,
not hard) and possibly manage an extra incoming mail thread (more
challenging if they get a lot of mail).  You also have startup overhead
(deciding on a charter, etc) and the problem of newcomers to Python
discovering that the sig even exists. One or more of these problems will
deter a lot of potential contributors from following the topic from
comp.lang.python into the newly created sig.

So, I agree with Guido.  If you want the SGML discussion to move out of
comp.lang.python/python-list@cwi.nl, move it to the doc-sig.  Most of the
people who would be interested in SGML are probably already subscribed to
it...

(People curious about what sigs already exist should check out
http://www.python.org/sigs/.) 

Skip Montanaro    | Musi-Cal: http://concerts.calendar.com/
skip@calendar.com | Python Support: http://www.pythonpros.com/
(518)372-5583     | XEmacs: http://www.automatrix.com/~skip/xemacs/tip.html


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