[Tango-L] The resurrection of Tango-L?: Part 2. Who's still interested? And why or why not?

[Shahrukh Merchant]

Instead of just presenting all the raw numbers from the survey, I 
thought it would be more useful to provide them grouped and in the 
context of questions about the continuation of the list. This email 
addresses some of the survey questions related to the subject 
line--subsequent ones will address the others.


* HOW INTERESTED WERE YOU IN TANGO-L POSTS WHEN THEY CAME INTO YOUR 
INBOX (OR USED TO)?

55%: Read it all
45%: Scanned it and read selectively

Of course those who didn't read them at all are presumably 
under-represented since they didn't read the email about the survey 
either ...


* DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE POSTS ON TANGO-L? SHOULD THE LIST CONTINUE?

A full 80% of respondents said they wanted to see more posts. Again, 
there is some self-selection since those who respondend presumably have 
more interest in the list to start out with, than those who didn't, but 
there is still a lot of interest AT LEAST IN READING (which may be the 
crux of the problem ...).

Similarly, 70% thought the list should continue, but 80% would 
resubscribe if it continued and moved to another server (apparently 
including some who thought the list shouldn't continue).

Comments on why the list should or shouldn't continue ... could be 
summed up either as "nostalgia" or "interesting discussions" for those 
who think it should continue and "obsolete" or "lack of interest" for 
those who think it shouldn't, but here are the comments (relatively few 
answered this "why or why not" question):

SHOULD CONTINUE
- I miss it
- It helps me keep up my interest
- Because I'm not on Fadcebook [sic] and similar things.
- Read sometimes interesting postings
- I love discussions on tango
- I was one of those people that thought for a while that Tango-L should 
just die a quiet, if very sad, death. However, I could not bring myself 
to delete all the mails, nor to actually unsubscribe. Somewhere in the 
recesses of my mind, Tango-L occupies a special place. And I can't let go.

SHOULDN'T CONTINUE
- no traffic
- platforms have shifted a while ago
- Interest seems to be lacking.
- List serves such as Tango-L are a relic of the past.


* AND WHY ARE YOU STILL ON IT EVEN WITH VERY LITTLE TRAFFIC?

50% "Why not?" Doesn't cost anything to be on it and there may be a good 
post now and then
40% "Still hoping" ... for it to come back to life
10% "I'm still on it??"

With additional comments:
- Low cost Longshot. Life=good discussion
- Last efforts to post something met only with technical rejections.
- After the Tango-A survey, it started me thinking, and I dropped 
Facebook [ed. Congrats!]
- I've unsubscribed a long time ago [ed. or so he thought ...]


* AND WHAT WOULD BE YOUR IDEAL MEDIUM FOR A TANGO DISCUSSION FORUM?

Well, despite all the comments on "obsolete medium," etc., people still 
ended up choosing a listserv by a wide margin over the next-highest 
choice--go figure!

50% Tango-L-like mailing list
20% Web forum
15% Facebook
5% Blog
5% Other
5% Not interested in Tango discussions

Additional comments:
- or web or blog forums also
- Something like RangfinderForum.com, with a moderater who manages the 
site and keeps it from becoming an 7th grade
- Rss
- Whichever will be most successful
- email attachments are too much trouble to read.
- Although mailing lists such as Tango-L might now be considered 
obsolete, I much prefer these kinds of lists where (one thinks) there is 
less of a knee-jerk, reactive type of posting of the type one might see 
on social media sites.


OK, that's it for today's update. My next post will cover the following 
topics (also based on survey results):

- So why aren't all these people who want Tango-L to continue posting 
themselves?
- What ARE people using to get their Tango forum fix?


Shahrukh