Bristol Social Forum - 1,000+ Subscribers!

bristol | community | news report Friday October 12, 2007 14:09 by Bristol Social Forum

The Bristol Social Forum egroup now has 1,000+ subscribers, and continues to grow, and establish itself not just as the biggest open egroup in Bristol for exchanging news on political activities and events, but the biggest Social Forum egroup of its kind in the U.K

.......................................................................

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FORUM

In late 2006 the constitution of the Bristol Social Forum was declared as nullified, due to the failure of the Bristol Social Forum to sustain itself in the form of face to face meetings between groups, following on from its launch in early 2005.

http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=25605

This folding of Social Forum groups was experienced in a similar vein across most of the U.K, and most groups wound up their egroups too.

The potential for egroups to outlive activity on the ground (in the absence of an agreed and/or workable formula for action) has not been grasped anywhere in the U.K. Most egroups rarely sustain over 100 subscribers (regardless of their nature), as subscribers are typically bombarded with what feels like a daily avalanche of individual emails, often involving personal arguments played out relentlessly between 2 dominant individuals.

The predictable result of this generally poor moderation of egroups - wherever you care to look - is mass unsubscription of previously interested subscribers.

.......................................................................

THE BRISTOL SOCIAL FORUM METHOD

This Bristol Social Forum egroup is publicised on the basis that people receive an average of 2 digests per week. This is the amount of mail that it has now been shown that people will generally accept receiving in their inboxes, and not feel overwhelmed, only to unsubscribe soon after.

Other egroup moderators please take note of this.

To make it possible to only send an average of 2 digests per week means people need to have the foresight to post their events well in advance. A problem with email is a concomitant myth that seems to broadly exist which appears to confuse email as being some kind of telepathic medium.

Email is *not* a telepathic medium.

Email has *not* magically transformed human relations.

Whether received through a letter box, or email, people still need advance notice to rearrange their schedules, arrange baby sitters etc. Some people only visit an internet cafe once a week, and won't even receive short notice events until they have taken place!

Whatever the future of the Bristol Social Forum in the form of face to face meetings, and a return to a constitutional set-up (or not), the size and ongoing growth of the Bristol Social Forum as an egroup means that it does still have a future, and a day to day purpose.

Most other Social Forum egroup moderators just walked away and let things quietly die.

.......................................................................

JOIN THE BRISTOL SOCIAL FORUM EGROUP

To join the Bristol Social Forum egroup, send a blank email to the address below, and then wait for, and reply to, the confirmation message:

bristolsocialforum-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Or, join online, visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristolsocialforum/

ONCE SUBSCRIBED:

Post your events, news, or resource requests and offers to all 1,000+ subscribers.
Email: bristolsocialforum@yahoogroups.com

You are not required to adhere to a party line or political platform beyond recognising that posts should not be discriminatory on the basis of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or disability.

But please, please remember, to post events well in advance, with full and clear Time/Date/Venue details, and not 12hrs before with a vague reference to a building somewhere in Bristol. Everyone benefits from forward planning.

Thanks.

(A Bristol Social Forum Moderator)