Time to shut down this list?

[Charles Oppermann]

>>1.  It's not the original charter of the mailing list.  For reference:

I've always thought this was silly.  All throughout the internet "newbies"
implies beginner.  A newbie mailing list regarding an operating system is
naturally going to have people posting technical questions.  Even if the
newbie is aware of the technical questions mailing list, they may make the
choice to post to freebsd-newbies because of intimidation.

I understand the purpose of the list is "a gathering place for people new to
FreeBSD" to "share [their] experiences with others" and I think that's
wonderful.

To accomplish that goal then, why not simply have a "freebsd-experience"
mailing list?

Personally, I think newbies (myself included) are intimidated by the
freebsd-questions list and feel they will be more welcomed in a newbies
list.  For that reason, I think the freebsd-newbies list should stick around
and have it's charter changed to allow technical discussions - with a caveat
that they be moved to another list if not newbie oriented.

Regardless of what's done, something has to change simply because so many
people make the mistake of not reading or abiding my the current charter.
Currently newbie's are chastised at the very time they feel most intimated.
Instead, they should be welcomed, encouraged and nurtured.

I'm glad the FreeBSD organization is discussing this, because it's been
painful for me to watch people basically get yelled at for posting.  Might
not seem like yelling to someone who subscribes to a dozen or more lists and
has tons of experience, but I'm sure the wet-behind-the-ears newbie has a
different impression of what is likely their first experience with the
FreeBSD community.