Re: [gentoo-dev] GLEP 30: "Planet Gentoo" web log aggregator

[Kurt Lieber]

On Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 06:19:15PM +0100 or thereabouts, Daniel Drake wrote:
> I understand your viewpoint, but (as discussed in this thread) there are
> many criteria which will determine the success of the planet, some of which
> are impossible or difficult to measure effectively. Maybe you would like to
> suggest some targets which you feel would define an active planet?

We could use some of the previously-discussed metrics (page views, number
of posts, etc.) but perhaps a better idea is simply asking our users.

How about if we posted a question on survey.gentoo.org 3-6 months after the
service has been up that simply asks, "Do you find planet.gentoo.org to be
valuable?"  If the "yes" rate is something less than X% (I'd suggest 33%)
then we kill it.  If not, we leave it up and consider it a success.  This
seems like a very fair, impartial way of gauging the impact that this
service has had on our community.

> I would much prefer to let this run, initially marked as beta if need be,
> and see how it goes. If at some point in the future there is a feeling that
> the planet is inactive, we should then assess the aggregated contributions
> and, if required, *then* decide upon some goals for a further assessment
> period before considering dropping the planet. At that stage we'll have a
> much better feel of the content, quantity, and quality of the aggregated
> articles and hopefully we will also have feedback from readers.

Without an agreement on what will define the success of this service, it's
way too easy to have any discussions about whether to keep it or not
denegrate into a flamewar.  As a perfect example, see GRP.  Some of us
think it's valuable, others think it isn't, but because we all have
different definitions of "valuable" it's difficult to reach consensus and
people start to take things personally.

--kurt