<*>> The fanfic mailing list is a nice place as it is, to me. I like the diversity
<*>> and at times, craziness of it all. I don't mind the high mail count because I
<*>> know where it's coming from. If the list were split, I know for sure that I
<*>> won't subscribe to all of them.
<*>
<*>THAT IS THE POINT.

So, Damoo, your point is that you don't want us to subscribe to all the
sublists?

My point is that it would not be necessary.  People would be able to 
control their incoming mail volume by subbing to as many or as few of 
the sublists as they desired.

A point to make on smaller lists generating ideas. An analogy would be a
flame and its connection to tinder.

A small spark can light up tinder big and small equally well. The difference
is how long it will burn before someone can see the light.

On a large list, there is enough mental tinder for someone who doesn't read
often to catch a thread and become interested.

On a small list, it will escape notice.

That's not necessarily so, and you prove it by your statement below.  
This also has a lot with how you define "small".  I'm of the opinion 
that there's a "sweet spot" of population between 80-150 people that 
will generate "ideas", as you say, and still be small enough to be 
even familial in their friendships.

This is the way we used to be.

As for size, I remember when the list was in its infancy and STILL outputted
200+ posts per day. Size at times has little to do with it.

Exactly.  A lot of this was spam.  A lot was getting to know each 
other.  Remember the "Bios" threads?  We couldn't do that on this 
list today; the sheer size of the thread would likely crash the list, 
and no one would be able to read and remember a significant 
percentage of the bios, anyway.

I still have some of those bios saved somewhere, and they're also 
still on the archives.  Marisa Price is compiling a current, partial 
list of bios of people who've submitted theirs to her.  While I doubt 
I'm going to go browsing through the hundred plus bios she has, I do 
remember reading pretty closely the bios threads we had before.  
That's how I got to know a lot of the people on the list back then.

Sadly, a good portion of them have left now, for various reasons.

Again, when I said I couldn't handle the current output of the list, 
I didn't mean message count wise.  I can always delete messages.  I 
meant ON topic wise.  There are far too many fanfics for me to read, 
even of the ones I am interested in.  I'd prefer just having a 
representative cross section to choose from, instead of being forced, 
mainly by volume, to choose the authors I'm familiar with rather than 
trying out "unknown" (to me anyway) authors.

By subdividing the list, one could choose to receive as much or as 
little fanfic mail, and fanfics, as he or she chose.  This was my 
general intention, and it was not meant to be for my sole benefit, 
but for the entire list.

THIS time, I want to make that clear.

Damon Casale, damoo@carmelnet.com
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^