Jim, thanks for all you do. One additional suggestion, "silverbacks", as you called them, can have an especial influence in setting a positive tone as well as relevance. Any of us can email an individual privately when we think they have crossed a line and need guidance.
Michael On May 22, 4:17 pm, CycloFiend <cyclofi...@earthlink.net> wrote: > State of the Rivendell Bicycle Works Owner's Bunch Mailing List > ============================ > May 2010 - #10 > ============================ > > This group has continued to grow steadily. We're now north of 1340 members, > having added more than 150 new people since the beginning of the year. Some > have quietly lurked, a few have contributed a bit and others have pushed > themselves well into the flow. There's been a bit of bumping and jostling > now and again of late, but I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has > continued to make this a positive and interesting discussion. > > For the newer members, I use this message as a reminder of some of the basic > tenets of the list, to highlight changes and trends on the list and various > websites, and to speak generally about the RBW group. > > One of the basic underpinnings of this group is to define ourselves by what > we are, rather than what we are not. As an example, I don't think that > Rivendell has ever said they are "anti-racing". Rather, they emphasize the > things they enjoy - riding bicycles where ever they can under any > conditions, camping under the stars, being comfortable - in short, just > enjoying the ride. That way, you don't have to have an argument about > racing vs. comfort. You can have a discussion about what is great about > either. > > And to say it very plainly, this list is about discussion. > > By that, maybe it's helpful for me to share one of the ways I think about > this list - as a public house where ideas are easily shared between those > who have arrived, everyone is present because they want to be, and passing > through the doors means that "baggage" is left outside. > > Of course, disruptions will periodically occur, which is kind of where I > have to attempt a polite correction now and again. > > One of the things I found very interesting was how many members emailed me > directly, when I commented a couple weeks back about the general trend of > recent topics to drift and generalize. It was interesting to hear how many > people thought they'd been the cause of my post, and in more than a few > cases, I had to go back and re-read their contributions to the discussion, > as most of them weren't really the ones which caused my comment. > > I think it speaks highly for everyone that they had taken some of the > assumption of cause, even if it wasn't the case. I responded directly to > most of you, but if I didn't let me use this space to thank you both for > your contributions and your willingness to temper your posts. > > To speak directly to the "topic" issue, there are a number of drivers which > can cause issues - not the least of which is the number of people now on the > list. If everyone just makes one post a month, that means 1341 posts, or > somewhere around 37 per day in an average month. > > Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't discuss things - that would sort of > undercut the whole "list" thing, eh? > > It does mean, however, that just by staying on topic, we're going to > generate a fair amount of traffic. One of the hallmarks of this list has > been a very high signal to noise ratio. It's solid information from the > people using and thinking about the items. > > And we've gotten to know one another pretty well, generated real, live rides > among the members. All good stuff. > > If I see that the day's RBW emails outpace that of the iBob list, it makes > me worry a little. I don't know if there's been a fall off of discussion > there, or a migration of more general iBob topics to this group. But, there > have been days when the traffic here outpaced iBob by a factor of 2 or 3. > > That's really what I was concerned about: what seemed to be a certain > amount of momentum in the amount of non-RBW posts, questions and topics, > particularly among the newer members. > > Not to give the RBW group silverbacks a free pass, but when someone who has > regularly posted about Riv-specific topics for a number of years makes a > more general post or shares a fantastic ride report that doesn't involve a > Rivendell, I'm going to try to keep it in the context of their overall > contribution to the list. > > By the same token, it's important to remember that if you are tagging your > post "OT" or "Off Topic", then it doesn't belong on this list. > > Tone is a different issue. > > My view is simple: life is too short. If you can't stay positive or at > least polite, it's time to put down the keyboard and take a break. We all > get enough guff in our everyday existence that we don't need to add to it > here. > > As I've said before, disagreement is expected. There's no way we will all > come to the same conclusion about anything, and I think it would be a more > boring world if we did. But, here, under this roof, we agree to disagree > with respect for one another. > > To finish, I'll repeat what I said in the last SOTLR - it is important as we > grow to honor the relatively narrow focus of this group, even though it's > tempting to have more general topics discussed here. Clearly, it's a bit of > an imperfect border, but one which we've largely maintained. > > Letting discussions end as they creep toward more general topics, not having > to have the last comment (or needing to "win" the argument) and, above all, > maintaining the respect for one another within the group is what makes this > list special. > > As always, thanks again for contributing to or simply enjoying the > discussions. > > ============================ > Projects and Features > ============================ > > Not too much this month. My recent focus has been on some personal things, > work, other work and trying to streamline my workflow on the Cyclofiend.com > galleries. I now have announcements of the Gallery additions here: > > http://cyclofiend.blogspot.com > > Two poems added to the Hilsen page: > (For those who don't know, when the AHomerHilsen.com site existed, there was > a call for poetry, stories, limericks and odes, for which there was a $20 > credit offered. Unfortunately, the site is offline (not Riv's fault), and > those writings generally inaccessible) > > http://cyclofiend.com/rbw/hilsen > > Paint color touch-up reference page updated: > > http://cyclofiend.com/rbw/color.html > > Alternative RBW Streams and Info > ---------------------------- > The Cyclofiend.com RBW pages are here: > > http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw > > It gets updated with various happenings, scans, images and such that get > found in the news and info flow. > > I did create a "Rivendell Bicycle Owners Bunch on Facebook" page back in the > beginning of 2009 - > > http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=127003115064 > > It got a recent push from another RBW fan page started by group member > Michael S. Thanks Michael, for sending folks over! > > Please note: I'm certainly not a Facebook* at all, and honestly don't check > in that regularly with the group (now at 151 members), and in no way do I > see it as a replacement for this group. As I mentioned, I finally signed up > a while ago for unrelated-to-bicycle reasons, and had bumped into quite a > few folks there. It seemed like it might be a useful platform for > coordinating rides in specific areas or for more quick-pinging type of > communications. > > *In fact, I've more or less stayed away. You can and should search about > previous and ongoing Facebook issues with private user information, internal > viruses, etc. before deciding if you want to mess with it. Some of that's > life in the online world, but it's worth being aware of. > > Regional RBW Flickr Groups - > (I much prefer the control over personal info which Flickr allows. It does > support messaging and discussions there as well, and many of us were using > Flickr for social networking before Facebook expoloded.) > > Southern > Californiahttp://www.flickr.com/groups/socal_rivendell_bicycle_appreciation_soc... > > Minnesota -http://www.flickr.com/groups/rbwminnesota/ > > Portland, OR - > None, but there has been a ride announced for June 6th > > http://tinyurl.com/rivride-0606 > > There have also been Flickr groups created for: > > RBW Staff Bikes -http://www.flickr.com/groups/rbwstaffbikes/ > > Rivendell Commuters -http://www.flickr.com/groups/rivendellcommuters/ > > Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen -http://www.flickr.com/groups/1256...@n22/ > > Rivendell Bombadil -http://www.flickr.com/groups/bombadil/ > > Rivendell Bleriot -http://www.flickr.com/groups/bleriot/ > > Rivendell Quickbeam -http://www.flickr.com/groups/quickbeam/ > > ============================ > More General Topics (From Previous Issues) > ============================ > > - Broader technical questions and non-Riv stuff are well covered by the iBob > list, the 650B list and others hosted by alex wetmore on bikelist.org > -http://www.bikelist.org- This is also where you can find the pre-March '07 > archives to the RBW list. Peter White runs the "Bicycle Lifestyle" google > group, which is here -http://groups.google.com/group/bicyclelifestyle > > - Resources get put onto the RBW-Owners-Bunch pages > here:http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch/web > Most are either mirrored or enhanced here:http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw > > - The Official RBW Gallery is on Flickr > -http://www.flickr.com/groups/rivendell > Of course, my feelings get hurt if you don't send photos to the Current > Classics (or other) Galleries ;^)http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc > > - Our FAQ continues to exist! The FAQ has one Q which was A'd > enough.http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch/web/rbw-group-requests > > - Posts from new members (or old members changing their email) are > moderated. So, it means that if someone joins, their first messages will > have to get my (or an acting list admin's) OK before being sent to everyone. > If you want to bypass this or speed it up a bit, send me an email so I know > you aren't a spammer. If your first posts are "For Sale" items, then you > will not be switched over to unmoderated until you join in the discussion at > large. > > - Posts to the list are by default distributed to everyone. That means if > you wish to make a private comment, you need to change the "TO:" > information. It's also easy to make that mistake, so please don't jump on > folks who do so. > > - Bug reports for the Rivendell website should be sent to > rbw-feedb...@610systems.com > You should include the browser, system and specific issue in the email. > > - RSS feeds for the RBW Owners Bunch group in many formats can be found > here:http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch/feeds > > - Earlier SOTL reports are archived here -http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/sotlr > > ============================ > Statistics & Housekeeping > ============================ > > List began: March 26, 2007 > Members: 1341 (Up from 1184 on 12/12/09, increase of 157) > Activity: Medium activity (Unchanged) > April 2010 was our highest traffic month so far, with 2365 posts. > This followed March, 2010 which had 2019; Jan '10 which had 1897; and > December '09 which finished at 1604. > Our first month with more than 1000 posts was December, 2008. > > In addition to email delivery, the list can be viewed via the web at > -http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch > > If you wish to turn off or restart email delivery, change to digest mode, > update your profile or make other changes, simply log in at the page above > and make the changes you desire. > > Unsubscribing is as easy as an email. But, don't send it to the group or to > me - All posts (including this SOTL message) contain a footer with the > appropriate address. > > The Rivendell Owners Bunch list is "dedicated to the discussion of Rivendell > Bicycles and products, you don't need to own one - just an interest in RBW > designs is enough to join in. Ride reports encouraged, as is a respectful, > supportive and polite tone in all posts. This group is not endorsed by > Rivendell Bicycle Works." > > As stated, this list is a discussion of things Rivendellian in nature and is > not associated with Rivendell Bicycle Works or its employees and staff. If > you have specific questions for Rivendell Bicycle Works regarding customer > service or other issues, you should contact them directly. > > ============================ > Ending Note > ============================ > > I'd be more than happy to continue the discussion on any of the topics > mentioned above, but in the interest of clarity, it might make sense to > either email me directly or to create a new topic thread specific to your > comment. > > Thanks again for your contributions and enjoyment of the list. > > Your list admin, > > -- Jim > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
