Re: Do we need a replacement group?

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:48:46 GMT, PaPaPeng <PaPaPeng@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:15:57 -0400, " WmB" <HELLinhock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I did eGroups with other hobbies back when the web forums started to emerge
and gain in popularity - they have their uses. But they have their issues as
well. I saw many a group implode under the weight of the "Cult of
Personality" that inevitably intrudes to any gathering of humans where
members are less than on equal terms. But most groups just withered away
from lack of interest. And yet no frills, black and white all-text usenet
rolls on year after year. Granted this forum and a few others I frequent
are nothing like their former selves. Traffic is way down from the heady
years of 97 or so (God, was that really 10-11 years ago) when you'd have
250-300 posts per DAY.


Excellent post that recaps the Usenet. I participate in a political
forum group too and there it suffers from trolls who come and go. But
that newsgroup has lasted since the Usenet (25 years?) became popular.
I like the Usenet text only format. None of the advertising crap. I
practice and would really appreciate other posters making a habit of
adding the date and URL to the source they are quoting. As for trolls
and spam it is easy enough to recognize their names and email
signature to ignore them. Their subject titles are also a dead
giveaway "not to read."

You can pitch as many reasons at Usenet as you can
the hobby itself for the decline. 350 messages might be a week's worth now
(not counting spam and trolls to stupid to realize they're thrashing about
in the binaries group). I don't miss the 250-350 posts per day. I just miss
guys like Al and others that are irreplaceable to the hobby and most
importantly to RMS.

I don't think so. My local IPMS chapter is bigger than ever with 20
to 30 per meeting. There was a time when a dozen was a good turn out
and I did drop out for a few years. I was into other pursuits and
there was also this "Cult of Personality" issue where anyone not in
their group couldn't possibly have respectable modelling skills.

The forums are getting hit too. I am a moderator for a forum, and
while the forum is indeed moderated we battle CONSTANTLY with
spammers. The administrator has made so many modifications to the
forum software to keep out literally hundreds of spambots becoming
"new users" every day, and we've had to lock down the "guest" boards
due to some especially vile graphic porn pics that one of the spambots
posted. Some of our forum members are very young and we tend to be a
bit protective of them, so we were horrified to find this on the forum
one day.

As of right now we've got it so that only approved members can post,
and they have to be vetted before they are accepted as a member (I'd
rather not give our secrets away by posting in more detail). We also
have a toolkit that we use to clean out the spam memberships from time
to time. The "membership" number increases until we empty the
toolkit, but new members' names don't appear on the members list
before they are accepted. It's not perfect, but it's the best we can
do for now with the filtering limitations the forum software permits.

Another disadvantage of forums vs. Usenet is that while Usenet posts
come up on Google searches, most forum posts don't. Those modelers
announcing kits for sale, auction etc. are going to lose the majority
of their audience if they post only on the forum. Similarly, those
modelers searching for kits, hobby shops in... (insert city), how-to
tips etc. won't see the forum posts either. So each medium has its
pluses and minuses.
.

Relevant Pages