Congratulations and thanks to you and everyone who's brought Kairosnews to such a great level of success! It is definitely hard to believe that four years have passed -- wow.

I'm impressed!

Although I do find it hard to believe that it took me this long to start posting here.

Any ideas how we might get more like you to participate? I'm almost afraid that some people might be hesitant to because they fear joining in (for whatever reason).

pull them over from the WPA, ATTW, and WAC lists. or invite them. :-)

i just started posting, but mainly because i just got a little blog-happy and was looking for cool places in blog form. i like this format a lot better than the email list-servs.

Wow, yeah, it has been a while! I second Charlie's question about how to get more people to participate, too. It seems like lots of people think it's more trouble to write a blog post than a listserv post. Maybe the indeterminacy of audience is a factor too; at least with listservs, you know whom you're addressing.

CultureCat

Charlie wrote:

I'm almost afraid that some people might be hesitant to because they fear joining in (for whatever reason).

I think they probably are.

You have reason to be proud of the longevity of this site, the closeness of the community, and the quality of the posts. All of these traits, however, make it harder for new people to jump in. Because the site has been around for a while and the community is well-established, it's easy to feel like an outsider. And because most of the members are highly knowledgeable, it's easy to feel like an idiot by comparison.

When I first came here, a major question on my mind was, "How can I write a post that will make these people accept me as someone worth listening to?" My first post here, "Things I Don't Know About Rhetoric," had a dual purpose: to admit my ignorance, so I wouldn't come across as a know-it-all, and to show that I had at least been thinking of some worthwhile issues. I'm afraid that my ignorance may have come across more strongly than my thinking, but that's not a bad thing. On the contrary, the responses I received showed that people would take my posts seriously, and I've continued to post when I've felt I've had something to contribute. I was especially impressed by a couple of encouraging e-mails I received after I wrote that.

I don't know how we can apply this experience to bringing in other people. Once people do post here, I think we can show them that we're an open, accepting community. But getting them to break through that initial reluctance can be difficult. I'm not sure I would have broken through it if I hadn't felt such a strong need to join a community that would encourage me to consider the kinds of issues and information we discuss here.

Tom

I've been thinking about this, and perhaps it would be good if new particpants would invite other people? Or we could do some kind of official announcement? What do you think?

Both sound good to me.

How did you build up the community when it first started?

LOL

I probably did 80% of the posting for the first six months, and then maybe three of us for the rest of that first year. Since then, it's been a slow progression. This has been the most active it has been in years in terms of the number of different people posting.

I first learned about Kairosnews. I was giving a paper at C&W at Illinois State. At the conclusion of the paper one of the audience members was kind enough to ask "If you really believe half of the platitudes you're offering on behalf of open source, have you met Charlie Lowe?" I hadn't, and he was on a panel that was just starting, so I ran down the hall. Afterwards I introduced myself and Charlie encouraged me to join this nascent board he had just started.

It really is fantastic to see it grow. My thought on continuing growth is to perhaps offer an e-mail signup poster/presentation at C&W; perhaps we could get a booth at the registration area and take turns staffing it?

I won't be at C&W this year, but that's a neat idea. Any volunteers?