From lojbab@lojban.org Fri Nov 23 23:32:29 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojbab@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 24 Nov 2001 07:32:28 -0000 Received: (qmail 15424 invoked from network); 24 Nov 2001 07:32:28 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.167) by m10.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 24 Nov 2001 07:32:28 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO stmpy-3.cais.net) (205.252.14.73) by mta1.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 24 Nov 2001 07:32:30 -0000 Received: from bob.lojban.org (ppp5.net-A.cais.net [205.252.61.5]) by stmpy-3.cais.net (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id fAO7WSP44067 for ; Sat, 24 Nov 2001 02:32:28 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <4.3.2.7.2.20011124020453.04e4d4c0@pop.cais.com> X-Sender: vir1036@pop.cais.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 02:17:30 -0500 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [lojban] presentation of lojban In-Reply-To: <20011123170503.A1304@twcny.rr.com> References: <144.51a303b.293019eb@aol.com> <144.51a303b.293019eb@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed From: "Bob LeChevalier (lojbab)" X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 12261 At 05:05 PM 11/23/01 -0500, Rob Speer wrote: >On Fri, Nov 23, 2001 at 04:30:19PM -0500, pycyn@aol.com wrote: > > I would downplay our > > community -- by the time it was 45, Esperanto had several million > relatively > > competent speakers and a library of several hundred (perhaps thousand) > books; > > even if you put Lojbans age at 10 or so, Esperanto -- with only the > > international snail mail of the end of the 19th century -- had many > times our > > number of competent speakers and dozens of books. > >On that end, I think we need either an update of lojban.org or a new >site that we can point people interested in Lojban to - someone coming >across the web page now would get the impression that nothing has been done >with the language for a year, and if they persist in being interested, >they're directed to various aging web sites and old texts. It's a wonder >anyone at all shows up on lojban-beginners, because I haven't seen it >publicized _anywhere_. Lojban has not been publicized anywhere, in part because we have been so poor on follow-through to anyone who responds, except to sell them a book and/or point them to the list. We have not had a usable introductory packet since 1993, and Nick's brochure update is to be the replacement for that, at the publication of which we may be more able to deal with significant new queries about the language. As for the web page, we have been working on a turnover of web page management to Robin Powell, who will also be hosting the site. Once that transfer is done, and it could take place literally at any moment because the CAIS people have been requested to make the change, Robin will then be making some changes and enhancements, one of which will surely be to make sure the page changes often enough that no one asks why it never changes. Unfortunately, my coming from the pre-Internet generation, I have not had the creativity nor even the understanding to fathom why the main page would be expected to change frequently when the language is now baselined and not changing, and when we have few new products. Instead, I put the link to Evguenie Sklyanin's links page, which DOES change often and which points to the variety of other pages that also change, and the link to the Web ring that also links to key sites that change, and hoped that this would do. Alas it hasn't been enough, and I am happy to turn over the job of making the pages interesting, while preserving their primary archival function, to Robin. >If we had a way to show people where stuff is going on - the text >repository on digitalkingdom, the IRC channels, the "Lojban for >Beginners" draft, the Wiki, and of course the mailing lists - I think we >could increase the size of the community drastically. One we get the new brochure book done, which of course will be after Nick gets resettled in Australia, we will probably be ready to do something. Finances remain extremely tight, so we cannot print-publish both of Nick's books at once, but getting the brochure done will give us a shot to grow a market that will finally pay off the remaining printing debt from the reference grammar. Then, after his lesson book is published, we will more seriously resume efforts on some sort of dictionary publication. lojbab -- lojbab lojbab@lojban.org Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273 Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org