From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 25 10:58:02 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D2A6816A4CE for ; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:58:02 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2BB7E43D53 for ; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:58:00 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) i0PIvrjc013239 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:57:53 GMT (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i0PIvrYR013238; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:57:53 GMT (envelope-from matthew) Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:57:53 +0000 From: Matthew Seaman To: Jason Slagle Message-ID: <20040125185753.GA12995@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> References: <4013EA9D.6040808@cream.org> <20040125134151.M52260@mail.tacorp.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="4Ckj6UjgE2iN1+kY" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040125134151.M52260@mail.tacorp.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.5.1i X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.9 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Less messages to FreeBSD.org lists X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:58:03 -0000 --4Ckj6UjgE2iN1+kY Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sun, Jan 25, 2004 at 01:42:43PM -0500, Jason Slagle wrote: > On Sun, 25 Jan 2004, Andrew Boothman wrote: >=20 > > Now - I'm not trying to start a "BSD is dying!" thread, there's no > > question that there's more than enough development going on in all the > > BSDs to counter that - but I would expect the total number of mailing > > list posts to vary approximately to the OSs installed base. Or is that > > too simplistic a view and I'm just worrying unnecessarily? > > > > I've been thinking for a while that -questions "feels" quieter. Or > > perhaps I'm just getting used to the message flow... >=20 > Perhaps the "New installing base" is shrinking as most of the people > willing to do it have done it already, which means there are less novice > questions asked? Yeah, things have slacked off a bit. I don't think there's anything sinister about that. I think it's mostly just natural variation -- these things go in waves: suddenly some particular subject is flavour of the moment, and you get a run of questions about it. For instance, there seems to have been quite a few questions recently about people having trouble installing 5.2, but fewer about other perennial favourites like sendmail config or how to cope with an ABI version bump in a shared library. Possibly some of those essay-length answers (and I'm as guilty as anyone at going on at great length...) have helped because people can solve their problems by Googling, and don't actually have to ask on the list. I think too there was quite a lot of interest from the MacOS X crowd as well, right around the time Panther was released. There was some confusion about just how much FreeBSD stuff there was in MacOS X and how much FreeBSD lore could be carried over. Then there's the Slashdot effect. I've noticed that there seem to be fewer *BSD stories recently, but that those stories are attracting a lot more discussion. Much of it is quite reasonable and not just the Linux frat-boys beating their chests and repeating the same old trolls. And there does often seem to be a bit of a surge on questions@... for a few days after a big FreeBSD story. Of course, this is all just my impression and probably wouldn't stand up for a minute to any sort of real hard look at the numbers. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --4Ckj6UjgE2iN1+kY Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD4DBQFAFBGxdtESqEQa7a0RAshjAJisb+pY8gx4PAdF4zSAieDWV4b6AJ9A1EQn iLnzjxgiqxT8nfm7YkFmlQ== =Bxx8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --4Ckj6UjgE2iN1+kY--