>A thing that is worse than a noisy maillist is twenty empty maillists.
This is not in itself an argument against the Nodes. It is an argument
against a total failure to market and manage the Nodes effectively.
>A maillist is a network. When
>splitting up a maillist into nodes or interrestgroups the value of these
>nodes combined will be smaller than the value of one big node.
If the ability to interrelate the specialized Nodes is retained through
appropraite browing privileges and cross-posting then this is not a valid
argument.
>Naturally the noise level of the big node will probably be bigger than
>in the many seperate nodes. Therefore a node will only increase in value
>until a certain point. I am pretty shure that the Exi list is so far
>from this point that it will be a bad idea to split it up.
The ExI list will never reach this point as it stands, because it's
structure is not attractive to the sort of specialist who can actually
bring about Extropian ideals. The concept of Nodes is intended to be
attractive to such people. Nodes do not replace this list, they serve to
augment it by a marketing strategy with an appropriately specialist-facing
twist.
>I spend my working time building comunities in intranets and the
>Internet. My experience is that a LOT of people has to use something
>like a maillist for it to be of any interrest. If not... interrest
>simply fades away. This could easily happen for Exi.
Equally, interest fades where discussion does not translate in to action.
ExI should not be an observer, it should be a creator. Nodes may well allow
ExI to become such a creator.
>The main reason for the succes of the net, I think, is that it gives
>everybody the ability to reach out and touch anybody they want to.
The specialist who would be attracted to the Nodes would not want to be
touched by just anybody. Being open to everyone is not everybody's idea of
networking Nirvana.
>The
>Exi list gives us the abillity to discuss with the "leaders" in
>transhumanism and extropy, and by participating long enough, to maybe
>become one of the leaders ourselves.
The Nodes would give the leaders something to lead.
Sarah