Re: QB Mailing List Temporarily Down

Subash says: << Tom, the bottom line is
that your perception of a possible conflict of
interest does not really matter. If the naqt.com server is
the easiest and most convenient site from which R.
can run the qb mailing lists, then I have no problem
with that, and I suspect that the majority (if not
almost all) of the current list subscribers would be ok
with it as well. Of course, my opinion here is not
really important either, as this is simply an issue of
choice. If you feel that the a new list at naqt.com
presents a problem, than you and any like-minded people
are always welcome to pursue your own avenues through
which you can disseminate qb-related information
(Yahoo, as you'd mentioned, being one). After all, no one
is beholden to subscribe to the list.
>>

This encompasses two different arguments:
1) The
first question is a question of convenience. Rob has
more direct access and control over whatever happens
to the NAQT server than he would if it were run
elsewhere. It is easier theretofore to just establish
mailing lists there. I suppose as a short-term temporary
measure, that would be a reasonable solution. On the other
hand, it's funny how short-term solutions tend to
become permanent.

2) The argument that if I don't
want to subscribe to _at_... lists, then I could
just go ahead and start up my own. That is a good
alternative, except for one thing... how many list servers are
you willing to be part of? Most people will still
tend to choose one over the other, and in all
likelihood they'd choose Rob's _at_... email list because
he has been pretty much the only person who has
moderated this list over the last three years. I certainly
don't have the time to moderate my own list, but even
if I were, I'd have trouble trying to get people to
join my email list since Rob's reputation as moderator
would make people more prone to join his. Consequently,
the argument that we could start our own is similar
to "we could design our own web browser if we're not
satisfied with IE."

We've already pretty much
developed our own standard regarding the emailing lists,
and we are very comfortable with Rob being moderator.
Again, that's not the issue. The ease of having it be
run through the NAQT server is not the issue. The
issue is whether this arrangement will result in an
appearance of conflict of interest in that it would appear
that NAQT has a major influence over the qb circuits
than if R were to run the listservers through a
different domain.

I suppose an alternative is to
have someone create a qb_at_... or a
qb_at_... or a qb_at_... . But just as we have
already chosen to prefer Yahoo!'s club over the egroups
club, so it will also come to pass for any
"competition" to the proposed qb_at_... site. And thus, what
could be implied with that group decision? Sure, it can
be argued that R does this voluntarily, but they
have the power of written publication to whatever
mailing lists they have to other colleges or high school
programs. And to that extent, they have a clear advantage
in outreach than any other "competing" listserver
group would have.

Besides, to retort your
argument that it is not necessary to subscribe to the new
list to get information on tournaments, I agree: the
original question I had of, "why not just keep using the
Yahoo Clubs message board"? For that solution, I will
agree with Shawn there are questions regarding access
and server reliability... but these are the same
problems that any network administrator will have anyway.
Why can't we continue to use this message board to
promote tournaments and organizations?

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