ONLamp: Do-It-Yourself Documentation? Research Into the Effectiveness of Mailing Lists (Part 1)

“Mailing list membership is a must for anyone who works with
complicated computer technology, such as a programming language, a
server, or a professional software package. On popular mailing
lists for difficult topics, such as Linux distributions, messages
stream in at every hour of the day and night.

“How many messages on these lists get satisfactory answers? How
long does it take to resolve the questions? These are just two of
the simpler ways to measure a mailing list’s effectiveness (we will
encounter others as we proceed)…”

Complete Story