-----Original Message----- From: parasane@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:parasane@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Daniel Brown Sent: 15 July 2010 05:11 PM To: PHP General Subject: Recent Influx of Unrelated Discussions Also known as off-topic posts. We're all guilty of them, but has anyone recently noticed that there is a significant number (about 35% of all traffic) that is off-topic? There have been questions on databases, JavaScript, WordPress, Apache directives, and more.... none of which were even related to PHP. Unfortunately, this is how dilution occurs, which often causes communities to dwindle into a defunct or otherwise low-quality state. As those of you who have been around for at least a couple of years know, we have continued to thrive here because we're not strict on the topics of discussion, and frequently [d]evolve into off-topic banter (particularly on Fridays, as it used to be). However, have you noticed the influx of extremely low-quality and/or low-class posts to the list? Couple that with the ominous silence from the formerly-frequent contributors of high-quality material, code examples, and community assistance. It is not a coincidence. This is an open list, and we don't moderate or censor any of the discussions, but before it gets out of hand, I'd like to suggest a moratorium on all off-topic posts through the end of this month --- with the exception, again, of Fridays. Which would mean that those in agreement would participate in the hiatus by not only not posting off-topic threads, but also not replying to those that are off the general topic. This isn't to say that threads can't still eventually decay into a friendly discussion, as has always been welcome, but that it shouldn't be the intent of a thread to seek assistance on topics unrelated to PHP and PHP programming in general. -- </Daniel P. Brown> UNADVERTISED DEDICATED SERVER SPECIALS SAME-DAY SETUP Just ask me what we're offering today! daniel.brown@xxxxxxxxxxxx || danbrown@xxxxxxx http://www.parasane.net/ || http://www.pilotpig.net/ -- It's Friday so I suppose I can respond... ;) I belong to a couple of mailing lists and always found the PHP list particularly active, focused, mature, and a tremendously helpful resource, even just following issues others raise and resolve. And Daniel, your own gentle prods to keep things on track I think sets some of the professional tone of the list. However, the subject of the list can be broad and fuzzy and can lead to some semi off-topic posts like Apache directives that affect PHP apps, JavaScript/Ajax interaction with PHP code, open-source PHP apps, etc. And even some non-PHP issues that most PHP developers will deal with at some time or another. Of course there are degrees of just how far off-topic one can go, but the fact that you can tap into a huge resource of skills and experience to find answers that can be difficult to find elsewhere is obviously very tempting. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds some of the responses to these off-topic issues quite edifying, considering they're almost always within the broad realm of PHP-related web development (though I agree low-quality posts are useless to everyone whether on-topic or not). At the same time I can see it's a difficult balancing act to cater for everyone from total beginners to highly skilled professionals and still keep everyone on board, especially if some of the more experienced and busy users feel they're being flooded with hundreds of mostly irrelevant posts (like this one) every day. But I also think those same users have the skills and filters to quickly scan and find the posts that are useful/interesting/relevant. Personally I think this list is great, even with some of the off-topic discussion. And your own involvement has always been very professional, and of course very focused, thanks. Cheers Arno -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
