[SAGE] sage-members list

[Josh Smith <irilyth@infersys.com>]

SRC == Strata R Chalup <strata@virtual.net>

SRC> Why should we transition? I paid SAGE dues, am I not entitled to use
SRC> the sage-members list?

I think the theory is that some of the conversations that were previously
most appropriate for sage-members@usenix.org are now more appropriate for
one of the LOPSA lists.

More generally, it seems to me that for a long time now, SAGE has been
trying to be two things:

(a) The professional organization of sysadmins.
(b) The subset of USENIX members who are interested in system administration.

These two things are related, but they're not the same; and the goals of
the former sometimes seem to clash with the goals of USENIX.

LOPSA is clearly the former, and with its creation, I imagine that USENIX
will focus on the latter, continuing to use SAGE to serve the interests of
USENIX members who are interested in system administration. USENIX could,
of course, run SAGE as a competing professional organization for
sysadmins, but I don't see any obvious reason why they would.

Anyway, back to the original point: My personal expectation is that
sage-members will be the best place for discussing topics that are of
interest to USENIX members who care about system administration, and the
LOPSA lists will be the best place for discussing topics that are of
interest to professional sysadmins. Topics that fit both of those
descriptions will pose a dilemma, but this is hardly unique to these two
lists -- there are already lots of other mailing lists that overlap with
various parts of sage-members and the LOPSA lists, and people somehow
manage to figure it out. (Or get it wrong and are politely corrected, or
whatever. :^)

                                      -Josh (irilyth@infersys.com)