[Koha] Koha Users of North America Email List

[Galen Charlton]

Hi,

On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 5:14 PM, Paul A <paul.a at navalmarinearchive.com>wrote:

> At 02:44 PM 12/16/2013 -0600, Nicole Engard wrote:
>
>> Can we also get this list added to the list of mailing lists on the Koha
>> site?
>>
>
> No suggestion of a "fictional conspiracy theory", but a couple of days ago
> we were happy to see that Koha belongs to the international Koha community,
> and that [American] PTFS had lost in court.
>
> So why an "American" list? (and from another thread, "American" meeting?)
>

Distinctions matter.  One US firm does not represent the entirety -- or any
piece of, really -- the community of Koha libraries that happen to be
located in North America.


> I'm in Canada so the idea that "discussion will at times [be?] related to
> issues more important to users in North America" is tempting. But possibly
> divisive, or worse, discriminatory.
>

The mailing list in question is open to anybody to subscribe to and (once
it accumulates traffic), its archives will be visible to anybody.  To raise
questions about discriminatory intent or outcomes before it fairly gets off
the ground, is at best premature.  I will presume that you are raising this
concern in good faith, but request and expect that you extend the same
presumption of good faith in turn.


> Koha is open source *software*, and while translations, char sets that
> transcend UTF-8, whatever, may occasionally be nationalistic, why another
> list?
>

My general view on proposals for new mailing lists is that if a group of
people want one, they should be allowed to start it and announce it.  A new
list might not generate much, or any traffic -- but in that case, it's no
great loss of time to have set it up.  A new list might generate a lot of
traffic -- in which case it signals that there was pent-up demand for
conversation that for whatever reason the existing lists did not serve.  Or
in this case, it might simply be a quiet list devoted to organizing a
conference -- which would be fine.  But as long as the lists are open and
publicly archived, I say let a thousand flowers bloom.

Regards,

Galen
-- 
Galen Charlton
Manager of Implementation
Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts
email:  gmc at esilibrary.com
direct: +1 770-709-5581
cell:   +1 404-984-4366
skype:  gmcharlt
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Supporting Koha and Evergreen: http://koha-community.org &
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