On Sunday, September 14, 2014 5:53:33 AM UTC-3, And Rosta wrote:
What and where are these historical studies? Was 2003 the historical peak?
gleki was referring to some informal research I've discussed in IRC. I've tried to measure lojbanic activity over time by looking at things like the number of messages in the mailing lists and the number of members of LLG.
Mailing list activity seems to have peaked in 2001-2002: The combined number of messages in "lojban" and "jboske" topped 7,500 during those years. 2003 was the year that LLG reached peak membership (36). Mailing list activity declined, but a lot of activity was diverted to the phpBB forum supporting the newly formed BPFK.
The years after 2003 saw a steep decline in all of these measurements, bottoming out in 2008 (2,100 messages in "lojban" and "lojban-beginners", less than 30% of peak activity) and 2009 (17 LLG members, less than 50% of peak membership).
Because of the sudden decline -- 2004 mailing list activity was about 50% of the previous year -- I've been tempted to read 2003 as the critical year, and to look for clues that year as to what happened: What contributed to the rapid growth in previous years, and how was that growth reversed so quickly?
It looks to me like the adoption of the baseline policy 2002 -- and the consequent failure of BPFK to fullfill its expectations despite heroic efforts by both chairs -- is where the wheels came off the bus. Which is why I would like to bring proposals to the Annual Meeting to determine whether specific terms of the baseline policy are still aligned with the values and the experience of the community, or whether there's another way forward.
I'd be interested to hear from those who were around throughout the 2000s: What, from your perspective, happened? And what lessons can be drawn for the future?
mi'e la mukti mu'o