On Wed, May 18, 2005 at 08:40:31AM +0200, Carlo Traverso wrote:
PG had a forum-like Volunteers' Board at http://promo.net/pg/vol/wwwboard/ but it has become inactive and was officially discontinued on November 28, 2003
The archives are still available at the same address.
I can't recommend emulating it; at least, not _simply_ emulating it. The rules of the board were that "This Board is for posting any question or information about how to create Project Gutenberg E-Texts." and "Off-topic subjects include anything that is NOT about creating PG e-texts,". I moderated it ruthlessly; personal insults, opinion, advocacy, posts from clueless newbies who thought they were gurus, and indeed anything that did not fit the moderation parameters comfortably just went to the Big Bit-Bucket In The Sky without a second thought. It was a place where newcomers could browse or ask questions and make contact -- with me, if no-one else -- and try to get their heads around what PG was. Remember, PG was very opaque before that: the _only_ two-way communication was private mail. Then the Board and gutvol-d started up, and quickly settled into a pattern: the Board was the shopfront-window for passers-by who might be interested in walking in; gutvol-d was the back-room for the regulars. And please note, by "regulars" I mean people who were actually contributing to PG, who knew what they were talking about from experience, and who had a stake in the outcome. Monday-morning Quarterbacks weren't really in evidence. The Board had value in hooking people up with useful work, and with answering newbie questions, and it did good. Nowadays, however, people can find useful work to do all the time at DP, and all the newbie questions are answered in the FAQ, which was largely comprised of questions that had been asked on the Board. Its functions had become obsolete, and an attempt to revive it would, I think, be futile. jim