meg8 - 1:57 pm on Aug 9, 2005 (gmt 0)

I like the 'oldbie' 'newbie' classification.

Surely content designed for newbies, as in 'how to do this' is fairly decent evergreen content because even though the way anything is done changes over the years often the very first steps you have to take are pretty much the same, and the first questions you ask as a newbie are also the same. So perhaps little details of your topic will change, but the structure you've hung it on will remain the same.

As far as 'oldbies' are concerned, every community needs its elders, but sometimes this can create an atmosphere that is intimidating for the newbie which can kill the community. I sell specific hobby equipment and so I keep an eye on those communites on the internet, but I don't participate a huge amount, partly because it would be easy for me to slip over into spamming. I think that what is wonderful about the communities is their endless enthusiasm, they are always really pleased when a new person has discovered the delight in waht they do. However, if they start to quote statistics and history then a new person could quickly get turned off, perhaps thinking, I'll never learn all this stuff!

I think in this respect oldbie content that is written for oldbies can be evergreen, but it has to be welcoming, if you are an expert writing for other experts then you need to try and involve people, even the casual passer by who has not even become a newbie yet.