BoyPete wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]
My theory about rec.ponds, if that's the wrecked group you meant, was
that its user base was too small to swamp the trolls, and that was
because it was too specialised.

I would disagree with 'specialised' I have a garden with a pond, I'm not a
Koi person who spends thousands of pounds on their setup. It is for people
like me, and I susoect several others here, that I want this forum created.
[...]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I didn't mean "for specialists", but simply "too
narrow in focus". I don't know how many UK gardeners who use newsgroups
also have ponds, but I'd guess that it was too small a number to
sustain a newsgroup. I don't know what the "critical mass" for a group
is, but an example which comes to mind is Iceland. I've recently
visited, and adored it; I also have interests in the language issues,
environmental questions, and wildlife; and as soon as I got home I
searched for newsgroups on Iceland. Nothing worth a moment's mousing.
That must simply be a question of numbers: Iceland has a pop. of about
280 thousand, and I suppose the real foreign devotees like me probably
number a few thousand at most. So a population of, let's guess, 300
thousand may not be enough to support an intelligent newsgroup. I know
my stats are highly suspect: there will be good ones in Icelandic, of
course; but they'll probably be based around the university or special
interest groups. How many UK gardeners are there? And how many of them
have even _heard_ of newsgroups, let alone want to join in? Divide that
by pond-owners, and you see where I'm going.

--
Mike.