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> OK, so crossposting is one way that people can find the big group from the
> smaller groups.
Yes, it is - but bear in mind in my case it was only a chance crossposting,
and it happened quite a while after I joined lugnet. (I can't remember
how long after, but you can probably easily find out by looking at the
gap between when I subscribed by email to lugnet.general, auctions, etc.
and when I subscribed to lugnet.loc.uk <grin>)
>
> BTW, do you remember why you never bothered to check out the main loc.uk
> group initially (don't worry, no one is going to laugh or criticise...just
> want data to help get to the bottom of the problem)?
I believe I've managed to retrace my steps...
I first found http://lugnet.com/news/groups. I found the link to specific
localities, which took me to http://lugnet.com/news/groups/loc/.
I clicked on the UK hyperlink in the list at the top of the page,
and got to the big list of places. I then hunted down the list for
locations near me.
I can't recall if I actually noticed the lugnet.loc.uk link at the
top of the list, but if I did I probably assumed it was some general
explanation or something, not an actual newsgroup - after all,
once you've
seen a range of local groups that cover the UK - why on Earth should
there be other groups that cover the same areas again? The thought that there
would be simply never crossed my mind.
> What if the first thing you see is this...
>
> http://www.lugnet.com/loc/uk/
That would help a fair bit. What would make the page even more useful
would be if the big space on the left was used to display a bit of text
explaining what the links are and what the structure of the groups is.
Also there's lots of numbers by the names at the top of the screen with
no explanation of what the numbers mean (or of what the links are links
to) [1]
> > I'd suggest putting some information up on the page that lists all the
> > groups - and possibly on the pages that list all the messages in each local
> > group.
>
> Would something like this be helpful?--
>
> http://www.lugnet.com/sitemap.cgi?/loc/uk/&d=3
Personally, I'd say the first link (with more explanation) is better.
Just having lists of hyperlinks is only going to work if it's really
obvious from the context what the links lead to.
> It's perfectly OK if the itty bitty loc groups are used only rarely even not
> at all; what would be bad is not having them in place ahead of time for the
> one or two special time that someone really wants/needs them.
Or having their presence divert people from the main country group where
that's what they're looking for <grin>
btw the statistics you added to your message were interesting.
Is it possible that in some cases pure chance is a factor in which
groups have grown - that whichever groups got posted to first then
attracted everyone else? I recall from the recent discussion in lugnet.loc.uk
that it emerged quite a few people who read it are not in the UK - so
the group 'membership' doesn't seem to be exclusively based on geographical
area.
Simon
http://www.SimonRobinson.com
[1] Text directly on the page would be best, but if you don't think there's
room and/or feel like setting yourself tons and tons of boring grudgery work,
adding the TITLE attribute to all the hyperlinks in the html,
so we get an explanation
when we hold the mouse over a link, would be good too - at least for people
who know about doing that.
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Message has 2 Replies:
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 | | What little loc groups are best for
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| (...) OK, so crossposting is one way that people can find the big group from the smaller groups. BTW, do you remember why you never bothered to check out the main loc.uk group initially (don't worry, no one is going to laugh or criticise...just want (...) (25 years ago, 14-May-99, to lugnet.loc.uk, lugnet.admin.general)
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