Lambda the Ultimate

It's all about sharing
started 7/25/2001; 1:16:57 PM - last post 8/3/2001; 3:10:18 AM

Ehud Lamm - It's all about sharing

7/25/2001; 1:16:57 PM (reads: 1611, responses: 9)

It's all about sharing

A personal note.

This site is supposed to be a community website. I tried to create a place where people interested in programming languages could share links, ideas and so on.

In some respects the site is a success. We have had some wonderful contributors, and many are still on board. Most LtU readers take the time to say they appreciate the quality of the postings, the high signal to noise ratio, and the reasonable amount of traffic, which alows contemplation. I am happy to see you enjoy the site.

We also see a steady rise in the number of LtU readers, and the number of sites syndicating our headlines.

Alas, contributions come mainly from me and a couple of other dedicated contributors doing the best they can (we are all working people...) I find it extremely difficult to provide enough high quality content to justify the site. I started actively searching for things to post, and this really takes more time than I can afford at the moment.

This situation is problematic for another reason. It makes the site quite dull. We don't have enough sources of information, different perspectives and so on. This is a shame, bacuse I want to come here to learn about things I am not familiar with.

I really would like to have more participation. Either from current members, or by recuriting new contributors.

I thought about some new apporaches, like finding someone willing to be responsible for a specific department (e.g., I feel that the Logic/Declerative department could benefit from more attention). Another possibility is that someone would volunteer to run a regular 'column' on some interesting topic (LC puzzles would make me happy..)

Anyway, I realy think that the only way to keep LtU alive and worthy of your surfing time (and mine!) is by having more participation.

So if you are willing to become a contributing editor, let me know. If you have some other suggestions - please share them with the rest of us. And if you think all this is misguided, and you prefer a site you just skim, and doesn't expect your participation - let me know; perhaps what I have in mind is not what others want.

Meanwhile, I'll try to find good links to post..

Posted to admin by Ehud Lamm on 7/25/01; 1:24:33 PM

Bryn Keller - Re: It's all about sharing

7/26/2001; 10:58:11 AM (reads: 1227, responses: 0)

I'd be happy to help.

Ehud Lamm - Re: It's all about sharing

7/26/2001; 1:25:26 PM (reads: 1264, responses: 0)

If you, or anyone else, wants to become a contributing editor, please send me a private note, and I'll add you to the list.

It'd be best if you tell me if you have special interests or experience - just so I know what direction we are taking.

Thanks for all those sending me link suggestions and offers for help!

Chris Rathman - Re: It's all about sharing

7/28/2001; 9:01:08 AM (reads: 1195, responses: 1)

Don't know if it's feasible, but it'd be nice if postings to the discussion forum could be promoted to front page items if their content warrants it.

Other than that, I'll try to contribute as much as possible - though if I try to force the issue, I find myself straying into topics which probably don't belong on LtU.

Ehud Lamm - Re: It's all about sharing

7/29/2001; 8:38:48 AM (reads: 1310, responses: 0)

it'd be nice if postings to the discussion forum could be promoted to front page items if their content warrants it

Yeah, I also thought such a feature would be nice. Alas, it seems it doesn't exist.

Guess we must stick to the manual method, of positng a link to the discussion group item.

Albert Y. C. Lai - Re: It's all about sharing

7/30/2001; 2:22:20 PM (reads: 1236, responses: 1)

I am joining the membership so that I too can contribute bits and tids once in a while.

On the other hand, usually I just skim LtU. (Programming languages is my side interest, not my main one.) Perhaps I am a vocal minority in this regard; in that case, please don't be discouraged.

Ehud Lamm - Re: It's all about sharing

7/31/2001; 4:26:48 AM (reads: 1301, responses: 0)

Well, quite a few people agreed to help. We'll just have to wait and see.

jon fernquest - Re: It's all about sharing

8/3/2001; 1:54:32 AM (reads: 1179, responses: 0)

Posting snippets of code, especially functional code which can accomplish a lot in only a few lines, would be nice, but...

I can't paste in code from windows files. I get an ugly word wrap. Perhaps I just have to convert to Unix style line termination?

Ehud Lamm - Re: It's all about sharing

8/3/2001; 3:10:18 AM (reads: 1172, responses: 0)

I can't paste in code from windows files. I get an ugly word wrap.

I guess the problem is HTML. The browser formats your text according to the HTML tags, and not according to anything else.

Two options: put the text files somewhere, and post a link to it (we are, after all, a weblog), or use HTML PRE tages, to mark preformatted output- this is what I do when I post messages that contain inline code.