[OPE] A Belated Happy Birthday!

A belated happy birthday to the list which was *FIFTEEN YEARS OLD*
on the 5th.

By way of a short annual review, a few items stand out:

- beginning this year (2010) there was a significant decrease in volume.
Volume for the Fall (September-December) averaged 192 posts / month (about
what out historical average has been). Volume for the Spring (January-June)
dropped significantly - it averaged 75 posts/month.

- the size of the Administrative Committee was reduced with the resignations
from the ctte. by Michael S and Jurriaan. The ctte, thus, now consists of
Alejandro A, Dave Z, and Ian W. I have remained the list Coordinator and
report directly to the AC. The terms for the AC will be ending at the end
of 2010 so before that time we will want to access how our experiment in
the 'wisdom of crowds' directly democratic model of list administration
has worked and whether changes are desirable.

- the list size is currently ninety-seven (98). Several new members (Brendan
Cooney, Michael Webber, and Peter Flaschel were admitted in the Spring.
 
- list members are in twenty-four countries from all continents.

What will the future bring for our list? Who can say? I know I can't but I
can say looking backwards that *FOR FIFTEEN YEARS* OPE-L has been one of the
most important places internationally for the discussion of controversial
topics in political economy by Marxians. Furthermore, I can say that there
has been nowhere else that there has been such an *ONGOING* (i.e.
continuous, day-to-day) discussion by Marxists on political economy.
And I can say that we have been pioneers in both the Internet discussion of
political economy and - more recently - a model in the application
of direct democracy on the Net.
 
It is a fact that we as a list have survived a host of bumps and controversies
over the last 15 years but the fact remains that we have survived. This, by itself,
is a good indicator that the list will continue to survive, grow, and mature.
 
Once again I wish to thank *all* of you for your participation. This list belongs
to all of us and we all deserve credit for its accomplishments.
 
In solidarity, Jerry
_______________________________________________
ope mailing list
ope@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
Received on Wed Sep 8 09:22:05 2010