While upgrading my browser, I lost my bookmarks for the archive
webpages to scuba LISTS.  In the course of re-covering those
addresses, I accidentally discovered some VERY INTERESTING
statistics about LISTS on

[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]


Chapter 1.  It's not the SIZE (number of subscribers) that counts. :-)

Clicking "Mailing list archives & subscription management", I
found a surprisingly large number of LISTS on Brown.edu.  It
immediately struck me that there are two VERY LARGE lists on it:

TREPAN-L    Weird News List (6,804 subscribers)
WEIRD-L     Mmytacist Mmanufacture (3,310 subscribers)

The name "Weird News list" was enticing enough for me to take a
peek ... and noted that inspite of its 6,804 subscribers, there
were EXACTLY 1 posts in 1995 and NONE since.  Slightly LESS than
the near-moribund Scuba-SE when we moved in.  :-)

WEIRD-L fared a bit better. It had 2 posts in 1997 and none since.

That solidly confirmed what I've been saying all these years that
the NUMBER of subscribers on LISTS are not only worthless numbers
to infer about ACTIVITY, it is also useless as an indicator of the
actual number of BODIES who read or contribute to any list, for these
two reasons alone:  (1) Many subscribers use MULTIPLE addresses;
(2) Many of the email addresses on the subscription lists are DEAD
addresses (or Cyber debris).

I venture to say MOST of the 10,000+ subscribers on TREPAN-L and
WEIRD-L are dead email addresses!


Chapter 2.  What about Scuba-L?

SCUBA-L     Scuba diving discussion list (764 subscribers)

Yeah, sure -- the 764 subscribers.  ;-)   THAT was the number
Quinn Harry used when he wrote his poison letter to the President
of Clemson U about me, based on fabrications AND lies by Ron Lee
and Hugh Huntzinger. That was the most ugly episode in the
entire history of Scuba-L (starring Nick, Hugh, and Quinn). You
can read about it in the archives, if you have the stomach.  ;-)

See Chapter 1 about the NUMBER of subscribers.

Here are some INTERESTING numbers about Scuba-L POSTINGS this month:

1.  At the time of this writing, there was only ONE post in it
    Week 2 of September, by ... none other than the OWNER of
    Scuba-SE, Jeff.  :-)

2.  There was a TOTAL of 24 posts in it since September 1.
    Our Jeff (Kell) posted 3 of them (12% of the traffic).

3.  In contrast, there were more than that many posts in Scuba-SE
    TODAY and at least 177 since September 1.


Chapter 3.  What about QUALITY vs QUANTITY?

I'll address it before Don Ward asks.  :-)

Of course not all posts are strictly on topic or meritrious (here
OR Scuba-L or on ANY list):  but just look at the one thread THERE
(by none other than Aldo, Don Ward, and Chuck) -- hey that's 1/8 of
the posts there THIS MONTH.  You can bet your last bippy that there's
more SCUBA discussion and better SUBSTANCE in Scuba-SE, by a large
factor, no matter how you cut it!

Here is an example of the SUBSTANCE (or LACK thereof) there (a
thread of FIVE posts, over 20% of all posts this month, yielding
ALMOST correct answers at the end):

> From:         Brian <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Does someone know exactly how many Gallons of water is in a
> cubic square foot of water?

The ONLY "contribution" Brian made in his years in Scuba-L was
to pop out once in awhile to flame me -- without just cause,
of course.  :-)

We have a NEW concept of DIVING PHYSICS there:  "a cubic square
foot of water".  WOW!   The first responder repeated the SAME
THING!  Double WOW.


Chapter 4.  What NEXT?  (An EDITORIAL)

IMNSHO supported by the interesting statistics in the preceding
chapters, I think it's time someone should SUGGEST to Nick that
he should remove himself as the Owner of Scuba-L and let Jeff
Kell take over, so that WE can return there, under the suitable
LIST-name of Scuba_L, rather than Scuba-SE.   No RFD or other
crap needed.

Of those who SUPPORTED Nick's tyranny, to name but Chuck and Don
who are still subscribers there -- you have been posting MORE
in Scuba-SE this month than the entirety of all the posts in
Scuba-L, including those of yours own there!

It's an ABSURDITY that should be rectified and corrected.

Those of us who are HERE (in Scuba-SE) are the CORE of the
contributors and long-time members of Scuba-L, and should, given
the DATA anyone can plainly see, return to Scuba-L with a NEW
Owner (Jeff Kell is both willing AND able -- and would be my
nominee;  but I'll gladly support anyone ELSE to Manage that
list other than Nick (and a couple others who shall remain
nameless :-)).  I'll even support Chuck if he chooses to "run"
for that post.

Chuck, you falsely praised Nick's heroism of contributing at
least 30 hours of his time per week to Scuba-L should realize
that Jeff Kell is doing FIVE TIMES as much work in Scuba-SE
NOW (based on the frequency of posts and active posters), with
the time he does NOT have to spare, but did it anyway.

MOST of the WORK has already been DONE by LISTSERV, as evidence
by the CONTENT of the two listserv archives of Scuba-L and
Scuba-SE!

Just LOOK at the content of these two webpages -- which I now
use EXCLUSIVELY for reading (and posting):

http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/scuba-l.html

http://raven.utc.edu/Archives/scuba-se.html

They not only include the archives and SEARCH engine Nick falsely
claimed that he needed to move Scuba-L to his OWN site to do, but
these PUBLIC listserv pages include "Manage the list (list owners
only)" as well.

Of course there is WORK involved by the Owner(s) beyond what's
on those webpages.  But the work was NOT DONE by Nick nearly to
the extent he tried to dupe every one into believing and used
some unsuspecting subscribers as his sympathizers and mouth-
pieces.

-- Bob.