Market Farming

["Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>]

Jay Gee wrote:
> The real problem with disruptive individuals, paid or otherwise, is that
> they change the focus of the group in order to further their own agenda.

This could be said about a lot of discussions. It would also mean that there
are several people on the list who are involved in such a scheme because if
you had one person only, the discussion would die out for lack of interest.

> In the case of this community, our focus is "market farming" with
> occasional
> timeouts for interesting side trips.

> Recently, it appears that the list is about farming politics and
> farm bureaus.
> While this is not a big deal for long term subscribers, it may cause new
> subscribers, who would really benefit from our marketing and growing
> discussions, to unsubscribe and tell others that this list is
> about politics
> and the farm bureau, not marketing and growing for market farmers.
> The long term effect on the list would then be to decline.

My experience has shown otherwise. I am familiar with a group that attacked
a particular viewpoint from the midwest U.S. and they wanted only what they
viewed as international information. (They were really biased against the
U.S. view and privately said it but denied it publicly). They asked the
"troublemakers" to please go start your own similar list. Which they did. I
greatly opposed that because I felt it was better to have things in one big
tent (which is a theme I generally subscribe to), but I was outvoted.

Over the next year, the traffic on the new list went way up. The old list
had reduced traffic to the point of sometimes no messages for an extended
period. After three years, they publicy said that they have had a change of
heart and that all views are now OK since the former list owner has
relinquished control.  Thus far, the old list has not recovered. Another
limiting factor is that the old list is on a Majordomo listserv and while it
was a good system 5 years ago, the technology has changed toward web based
access and especially archive access that the new free list servers support.

> I can't think of any greater success for a person paid to interrupt
> this list than causing new subscribers to quit and be denied the
> valuable input this group has offered in the past.

I would agree that if only agricultural issues were discussed this could
happen and would suggest that the solution is for people to post all those
valuable things as well.

If it did come to the point of preferring two lists with one for only
specific marketing and growing and the other for a big tent approach, with
both marketing and growing plus the issues that shape marketing and growing,
I could be persuaded to set it up. But I would rather not because the
current list seems to be fine with a moderate amount of traffic compared to
some lists that I have been on.

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Dairy heifers and dairy beef graziers
Viroqua, WI

www.mistyridgefarm.com