A few days ago, she wrote a piece on pruning, and its been simmering and settling in and shaping itself to my mind ever since.
Back in the 1980s, I was a moderator for the Great Lakes Free Net, and have owned and moderated many groups since. A few weeks ago, when volunteers were needed to co moderate a few Yahoo groups I am on, I offered to help out.
One of the groups received widespread promotion on several blogs, and the membership rose by 150 people in the first week. Two of the groups had long standing and complex rules which I did my best to study, but failed to internalize.
When I bowed out of co-moderating the second two groups, I went to my yahoo groups site and realized I had FIVE PAGES of lists.. 48 in total. Now most of them were low or no traffic, but the very idea that I had 48 email lists hanging on out there stunned me.
So I got out my pruning shears.
I now have 9 lists. Two of them are for family calendar/reminder usage. Two are lists of emotional and artistic support that I read and post to daily. Three are writing industry lists from my membership in Romance Writers of America, and one is a list of info from a knitting magazine subscription that sends links to great patterns.
The ninth is a list that Oscar started back in August 2001 for siege engine enthusiasts. I took over moderation duties when he became busy. Despite my not posting there, nor promoting the list in any way, the membership has grown to 136. People on the list have met each other at various events, have published books, and have gained from the existence of the group. As I am the sole moderator, I will leave that list as is, and allow it to continue to grow organically.
I can't tell you how good it felt to delete those 39 memberships and obsolete groups from my life. As Maitri said in her blog: "...once you start pruning, and see the marvelous results, there are ripple effects all throughout your life."
I wonder what will come next? I wonder what will have room to grow now?
Image is of currants, which benefit from a good pruning now and then.
1 comment:
I am impressed that you found the strength to "declutter" your online life. I know you have been doing the same in real life, for quite a while. I remember reading the Zen style idea that you need empty areas in your home, so there is room for something new to come in... so here's to wonderful new arrivals! B*B, Ysabeau
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