phoebe ayers wrote:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Improving_Foundation-l is still up but hasn't gotten any new traffic in the last few weeks. Suggestions included:
- starting a forum
- starting an announcements list
- limiting posting
Looking at that discussion's history I see the following number of postings: Sept 9: 17 Sept.10: 13 Sept.11: 12 Sept.12: 0 Sept.13: 1 Sept.14: 1 Sept.15: 0 Sept.16: 2 Sept.17: 1 ...and nothing since
So it seems that after three days the discussion had essentially run its course, much in the way of many mailing list threads, including controversial or even inflammatory threads. An analysis of more threads or wiki discussions in a similar way could be interesting. I also not that the 9th was a Wednesday, and that the drop in list traffic on weekends may itself have a dampening effect on the life of threads in that list.
I would also suggest that any suggestion of moderation or other throttling strategy during the life helps to extend the life of an otherwise exhausted thread. Perhaps that should be a mailing list corollary to Godwin's law.
Ec