Several years ago the group at the Rendezvous decided to move toward a more permanent and readily accessible format. We discussed the need to be able to preserve the experiences and knowledge of the group's membership. We also saw the need to become the "masters of our own domain", pun more or less intended, and break with the dependency and arbitrariness of "free" providers of list-servs - sail-net1, sailnet2 and yahoo.
Over the last ten years it has been frustrating to see the wealth of knowledge shared by many that is now virtually inaccessible to others. I'm referring not only to text messages, but to photos, files and attachments that have been sent to yahoo that are unorganized and unclassifiable due to yahoo's limitations and therefore remain buried to all but the most ardent viewers. Lastly, even a casual observer will see that, for the most part, members become "active" and then "inactive" perhaps resurfacing months later or, often, hardly ever heard from again.
I am disturbed to hear of members simply "getting sick" of the same topics being repeated over and over again, simply "tuning" out by unsubscribing from yahoo. I don't like thinking about the resources that have become unavailable.
So, for the last couple of years, we have carefully begun developing an alternative to the yahoo list-serv based system. The challenge for the new system, WBS.com, is to incorporate the benefits of the list-serv into the capabilities of our new site without imposing the huge drawbacks of the list-serv system. I think we are close. Not quite there today, but we have assessed what is necessary technically to able to incorporate the benefits of the list-serv without its drawbacks and have a plan for implementation.
PRIOR to fully moving away from the list-serv, we'll put those features in place. Please remember that I'm talking feature capabilities, not duplication of look and feel.
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