NYCPHP Meetup

[Hans Zaunere]

Hi all,

Whew, I think we'll need another server to support all the list's posts :)  Seeing this type of enthusiasm from the community is fantastic, and questions, discussions, and the back-and-forth is what mailing lists, and NY, is all about.

When NYPHP-Talk first started there was very little traffic and participation (actually, none :), and so a general "any topic goes" viewpoint has worked very well.  Obviously, in just a year, it's grown to be a high-traffic and vibrant channel of communication.

However, it may be beginning to outgrow it's usefulness for some, and we want to be sure to address the needs of the entire community.  So, I'm throwing out the notion that it's time for another list, dedicated to the strict technical discussion of PHP/AMP Technology, and other closely related topics.  Topics would include Apache/MySQL/PHP of course, any related installation/system-administration/security topics, any application written in PHP, and any PHP extension/variant (so, Oracle, PostgreSQL, CLI, GD, etc).  Casual chat or posts, and other topics, wouldn't be included.

And, since we do have such a diverse and knowledgeable community, NYPHP-Talk would be the place for any type of general web discussion, chat, and so forth (thus, falling inline with it's original name, 'Talk').  This organization would allow people to get their tough technical questions answered (on the new list, should we call it NYPHP-AMP ?), by probably the best AMP related lists in the world I might add, while avoiding much of the additional traffic related to other web development technologies, NY, political and other discussions.

I've been hesitant to bring this up in the past simply because I didn't want to discourage people from using the lists, and divide the traffic up to the point that things fall dead.  And, with so many varied topics, it wouldn't be good to make people afraid to post, and asking themselves questions "is this the right list to post?".  Maybe some could assist in drafting well-worded list policies, that would eliminate this ambiguity and clearly depict what topics the lists are geared towards.

Lastly, with the recent addition of the front-end list (http://lists.nyphp.org for those who haven't joined yet) we'd have a complete and very knowledgeable set of real time resources for the community to use.  And, with all lists available as digests (also available via http://lists.nyphp.org), having the traffic organized a little may strike a nice balance for people.  I'm eager to hear thoughts on this, either on this list or in private, and if I get a general +1 on this, I'll have the new list this afternoon (and if anyone has any notes/ideas to pass on about mailing list policies and guidelines, I it'd be a very valuable addition).

It's a pleasure to be on this list, and to have seen it grow into a resource for so many.  Thanks all,

Hans Zaunere
President, New York PHP
http://nyphp.org
hans at nyphp.org