*Update: David Nolen created an [LL.next Google Group](https://groups.google.com/group/ll-next). I'm hoping beyond hope that it works! I'll be there to help.*

Some time in late 2001 MIT held an event called the [Lightweight Languages Workshop](http://ll1.ai.mit.edu/) or LL1 for short.  While I'm certain the [event itself](http://ll1.ai.mit.edu/agenda.html) was influential to those in attendance, the truly magnificent byproduct of the workshop was the associated [LL1 mailing list](http://people.csail.mit.edu/gregs/ll1-discuss-archive-html/maillist.html).  Scanning down the messages to that mailing list reads like a roster for the programming languages hall of fame.  The topics on display, from historical recollections to bleeding edge to wholly new topics (that we've yet to catch on to in many cases), are of a ridiculously high quality that almost any random thread puts every current outlet of rampant opinion to shame.  

And that's a problem.  There is a true gap in the computing ecosystem since the LL1 mailing list went silent.  Certainly there are other important mailing lists and message boards in operation today,[^0] including [Fundamentals of New Computing](http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc), [Squeak-dev](http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/squeak-dev), and (at times) [Lambda The Ultimate](http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/), but none of them have the same mix of breadth of conversation and tone of respectfulness of LL1.

The world needs a new LL1.  But it's not as simple as just putting together a mailing list and calling it LL.next.  Any LL.next mailing list would need most (if not all) of the following to garner even a hint of the magic in the old:

  * A bevy of thought leaders
  * Supplemented with a bevy of open-minded and respectful enthusiasts
  * A general desire to push the collective envelope as opposed to individual agenda
  * [Thoughtfulness](http://blog.fogus.me/2011/03/27/the-long-lost-art-of-thoughtfulness-in-blogging/)
  * An enthusiasm for the new, with a deference to the past
  * No sacred cows
  * Invite only (maybe -- depending on the following)
  * Fair but firm moderation
  * A clear focus on the goals of said list

Where is this LL1.next, and who are the right people to get it started?[^1]

:F

[^0]: It might be enough to simply join the best of the current sites and force that LL1 evolves from them, but I suspect that: 1) the existing community might not like that idea, and 2) it's just not possible to evolve something like LL1.

[^1]: I have a few people in mind that could take this role, but will defer from naming them to avoid putting them on the spot.