Re: the crypt

dpa wrote:

>
> However, somewhere along the line one of the posters opined that:
>
>> C.R.M. has been a crypt lately,
>
> and referred to the comp.robotics.misc discussion group as
>
>> this otherwise wilted corner of Usenet.
>
> Is this true? If so, because robotics is one of my loves, it's sad.
>
> Why do you suppose this has happened? Or I'm I reading too much
> into the paucity of page hits?

The UserFriendly cartoon (http://www.userfiendly.org) had an interesting
clip that drew the conclusion that blogs are the new usenet.

Other than that, c.r.m is sort of esoteric. While you may not have
appreciated my post on PID (I think we have philosophical differences), it
is one of the things that I think this group needs.

Right now, it feels more like a "support group," as people post questions
and hope for answers. Because of this, people won't come here to see new
stuff.

I also sense, and it is hard to articulate, it is like disrespect. (everyone
is guilty on some level) Sure this is usenet, but look at the thread for my
PID essay. I posted a link to something I thought would make good reading
for someone new or just beginning. I was asking for critique. Now there was
some useful criticism, and some off topic criticism like colored comments.
Those aren't bad, then there was yours, which at the very beginning seemed
to imply that I hadn't done what I wrote about or at the very least
attempted to minimize it, the thread quickly got out of hand. There is
clearly no incentive now to write about how to hack up a simple ball mouse
and make it a dual motor encoder or the other aspects of the $500 robot.

Building and maintaining a community takes, if not work, at least activity.
I love robotics, I built my first robot in (I think I remember) 1978, based
on an old BigTrac and a COSMAC 1802, maybe it is like Heathkit, no longer
generally interesting.

People need to post, to share, to create and to feel encouraged to do so.

.