Is there a 'silverback' ID badge that should be authenticated when a newbie finds him or herself being politely reminded off-list?
Seriously, though, thanks for the work. On May 23, 7:13 pm, Angus <angusle...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Another "Thank You" for all the time and effort you put into the list. > > Thanks Jim! > > Angus > > On May 22, 3:17 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 > > > - > > ... > > read more » -- 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. 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