I subscribe to both the Nottingham and the Australian lists but do not get
much out of either of them, for quite different reasons.

The Nottingham list is too busy. This is mainly due to the behaviour of a
few subscribers who promote themselves by picking holes in the messages of
others. I recall behaviour like this at university, and it was amusing for
a few years, but most of us got over it. There is also a problem with
format when a list is as busy as this: some members include copies of
messages to which they are replying, which get duplicated many times.

The Australian list is too quiet, and with less than 30 subscribed I now
know why. However this list has suffered from a different type of poor
behaviour by one or two of its subscribers over the years. Working in IT, I
started using email in the 1980s, and we very quickly learnt that it must
not be used to express strong emotion or censure, or personal issues, which
lead to all sorts of misunderstanding and paranoia. Some of those who have
used the Australian list needed to learn this also, and this certainly put
me off.

Both lists are dominated by a few people, and I think other subscribers are
probably intimidated by the high handed nature of some of those. It is best
to be fairly humble in a medium such as this.

I hope the Australian list can grow to the point that it is recognised by
many more people as a worthwhile croquet communication channel.

Best wishes,
David Archer.