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Message Posted: Fri, 05 Jan 2001 @ 12:10:22 GMT

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Hi,

I'm brand new to this List but have been using the DB2 equivalent for a couple of years (over 3000 subscribers, 30-50 mails distributed each day, generally recognised as one of the most active and successful online communities). All I would say is that the DB2 List tends to be self-regulating with 'incorrect use' or 'off-topic' or 'off-colour' mails being either ignored or batted down by subscribers themselves. In very exceptional circumstances the List owners have intervened with a reprimand or a suggestion that a loooooooooong running thread might be due for retirement. I can't remember a banishment over those years (except for one guy who twice sent attachments with viruses and was politely asked to go away until his company had cleaned up their act). The huge benefit of the DB2 List is the relaxed and open involvement of everyone from literally the IBM product owner (Roger Miller) and his developers to all manner of gurus/consultants to vendors to very experienced users to relatively new users.

I didn't receive the TDATA 'spam' but subsequent mails seem to imply that it wasn't a black or white issue. As I understand it someone may have gathered mail addresses from the list for private mailshots - that does sound dodgy and does merit a slap on the wrist but at least the mailshot was on Teradata and not trying to sell Readers Digest! If a vendor chose instead to send information on a new product to the List then that's a different issue as this could be classified as relevent information of potential interest to at least some of the TDATA community. Of course this could get taken to extremes with competing advertisements clogging up the show but, from experience of the DB2 List, this really doesn't happen and the myriad vendors and consultants act as responsible List citizens. Again natural laws apply as over- marketing or over-cockiness only annoys subscribers and is self-defeating.

Anyway, I'd just urge caution on being too rigid and proscriptive.

As I'm personally quite new to Teradata I look forward to learning from your collective experience and sharing some of our own (we've a Data Warehouse on 4850 - currently approx 450 GB of user data - largest table over 650 million rows - voracious end-users!).

Regards,

Micheal McMorrow,
Data Warehouse Project Manager,
AIB Bank, Ireland.

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