North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

I don't know whether this is practical or not, and I'm in no position to volunteer to be the one who does the extra work, but how about this:

Bearing in mind that we already have both the print Pomona and this list, with some NAFEX people using both, and some only one or the other:

What if NAFEX put up a board, but continued hosting this email list?

Keep this up for a year or so, then take a look at the situation. I think most likely one of three things will have happened:

1) Lots of people are registered on and posting on the boards, and there are hoards of lurkers. Nobody much is on the email list any longer. In this case, NAFEX drops the list.

2) The email list is still full of lively discussion. Hardly anybody is using the boards. In that case, drop the boards.

3) Possibly the best-case scenario: Many people are subscribed to and posting or lurking on the list. Many people are registered on, posting on, and lurking on the boards. In some cases these are the same people; but in large part it's two different groups, and the total number of people accessing NAFEX by one means or the other has greatly increased. If so, keep both the boards and the list; making sure that each mentions the existence of the other, as well as the existence of Pomona.

(4) would be the one we hope doesn't happen: neither the boards nor the list is full of discussion, and membership is still dropping. In which case we hope something else works.)

Advertising would probably have to pay for the boards; but I get the impression this is standard for board users, so they're used to it. If the boards become popular, NAFEX as a whole can get extra income. Lurking on the boards, and at least reading the list, I think should remain free (probably posting on both should be free as well, but maybe not other services such as searching archives); this will draw in more people, who can then be encouraged to donate/subscribe once they've got a better idea of the benefits of the group. 

Paper Pomona should also be kept up, partly for those who for varying reasons (and there are some good reasons) don't use computers, partly to make sure at least part of the information is widely dispersed in hardcopy form, which is the best way to make sure it doesn't disappear. The boards and the email list could both specify in the user terms that any non-personal information posted might be printed in Pomona. properly credited; this should solve the problem of getting enough info to put into Pomona, though not the problem of the needed time for someone to sort it out into that form.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly