>
>> Maybe mailing lists for PUGs are a thing of the past -- perhaps we
>> need to be thinking on getting the @postgres twitter account to
>> re-tweet announcements posted by PUGs, or something like that, more
>> suited to today's usage of comm channels rather than 1990's.
>
> I think it would be great to supplement such lists with twitter, but
> the lists are used for a good bit more than broadcast announcements.
>
I agree with that : Twitter (and also Meetup in a way) are top-down
messaging: a few individual are controling the account and broadcasting
news to a local user base.
This is probably usefull enough in many case, but I can understand that
some groups may want to have a more horizontal medium like a mailing list.
In this community mailing lists are the place where most of the big
decisions are made. When I first got involved and I saw all the mailing
lists and how simple it was to join the collective effort, I remembered
thinking "wow this is where things happen".
I totally understand that for someone who wants to launch a PUG in
his/her area, opening a mailing list is not just about getting a
communication tool: it's a gesture of recognition. It means you're part
of the family. It's having the people you admire telling you : "go for
it ! here's your tool !"
In my opinion, the community should either make it very easy to open a
new PUG mailing-list or simply refuse to create new ones and tell people
to go elsewhere.