Re: eBook Community's Twelfth Anniversary: State of The Group Message

I'll come out of the shadows to post here.  I joined with the vauge 
idea of creating an ebook to sell online and haven't felt I have much 
to share with the group.  I don't know how many others may be out 
there lurking the way I am, but I find the insights and discussions 
here valuable, and would very much miss this group were it not 
available.

Thanks to everyone for your posts - I'm sure there are others like me 
that are listening and learning.

Maryellen

--- In [email protected], Jon Noring <jon@...> wrote:
>
> Everyone,
> 
> A few days ago this group reached its 12th Anniversary. TeBC was
> started January 5, 1996 under the name "eBook-List".
> 
> Since that humble beginning, TeBC membership has grown (to now about
> 3000 registered subscribers), and well over 33,000 messages have 
been
> posted.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has made this group a great success over the
> years!
> 
> On a more somber note, I notice that the number of messages posted 
to
> TeBC during 2007 was *significantly* lower than in prior years. 
Refer
> to the monthly posting chart at the TeBC home page:
> 
>    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/
> 
> (In 2006, we had 2979 messages. In 2007 we had 1297, a drop of 56%)
> 
> I am unsure of the reasons why we see the major dropoff in 2007. 
There
> are a number of possible explanations. For example:
> 
> 1) The rise of blogs and new types of online forums have provided 
new
>    and spiffier outlets for people to express themselves.
> 
>    (Maybe the traditional "mailing list", a.k.a. "listserv" is
>    becoming too "old-fashioned" for many people to get excited about
>    any more.)
> 
> 2) Competition from other ebook-related discussion forums.
> 
>    (E.g., Mobileread has captured a significant chunk of the ebook
>    hardware discussion, so we don't see anywhere near as much
>    discussion on hardware as we used to.)
> 
> 3) This group is simply losing its relevance for reasons that I 
don't
>    understand, but others may. Maybe the ebook industry is finally
>    maturing and so there's less need for a forum like TeBC.
>    
> 
> Even though "metadiscussions" (discussions about the group) are
> usually discouraged, in this case I invite everyone to provide their
> views on why TeBC group discussion has significantly dropped the 
last
> year.
> 
> Is this something temporary, or a long-term trend?
> 
> And more importantly, how can we make TeBC more relevant to the 
ebook
> and digital publishing universe?
> 
> Should we consider a switch away from the traditional 'listserv' to 
a
> different type of forum? (E.g., blog-based.) Should we 
simply "merge"
> with another "new-type" forum?
> 
> Your frank insights are invited.
> 
> And of course, if you are interested in helping this group in any
> capacity, including a leadership position, let me know in private
> email.
> 
> It's always been my intent to build a group leader's team to oversee
> both the day-to-day operation and the evolution of this group to
> maintain relevance in the ebook and digital publication universe. Up
> to now it's mostly been run by me, with a little help from my 
friends
> (David Rothman and Kent Larsen, to name two.)
> 
> Thanks again to everyone for all your contributions to TeBC. TeBC is
> *your* group, so let's see how we can make this group relevant 
again.
> 
> Jon Noring
> TeBC founder and co-moderator
>




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