Today, December 2009 is roughly 2 years after the AltNetConf list was changed to “cli_dev”, effectively killing the list.  Just look at the graph of activity for this list:

The AltNetConf in October of 2007 kicked off a flurry of discussion about ALT.NET.  The discussion was essentially talk about best practices for .Net.  You can see that this list has been completely dormant since April of 2008.

Jeff Atwood’s recent post about OSS parenting got me thinking about this list.  I started it for the AltNetConf and announced it during the conference (which as largely led by Scott Bellware and David Laribee).  I have largely neglected this list and let spam remain.  I went through the work of cleaning the list of lots of spam and banning the spammers.  I’ve also put moderation in place to prevent spammers from joining, and now the list is groomed and ready to resume serving the community.

As with open-source, I expect the community to vote with its feet.  Either this list will bustle with activity again, or this post will be the only mention of it.  Either way, I’ll try to be a good parent, Mr. Atwood.

You can find the AltNetConf list here: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/altnetconf/

What is the purpose of the list now?  The purpose is stated in the group description, and it is as follows:

“This groups serves as a hub of discussion about ALT.NET conferences, user group meetings, meet-ups, and other "conferencing" of people around the topic of ALT.NET.
This list has a colorful history, and if you have time, please read the archives. It started during the original AltNetConf in October of 2007 and now serves as a way to collaborate on future ALT.NET conferences and the like.”