On 2013-11-06 18:59:26 +0000, Nick Maclaren said:

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Sacha" wrote...

I'm concerned for the future of this group which I've enjoyed hugely for 16
years. Some have been here longer than that. But given the number of
those who used to post and who lurk (I know of a few, not many now) the
response to the suggestion that we widen our horizons, look at a blog and
consider looking at others and discussing their content, were - forgive the
pun - seeds on stony ground. ...

I think that's mistaken - the reasons were not what you imply.

I agree that Newsgroups appear to be fading away quite quickly now, I posted
to another Ng a few days ago a technical question that 3 or 4 years ago
would have had probably more than 10 knowledgeable replies by now, but I've
had nothing at all.

That is unfortunately true. But the rot started quite a long time
back on the technical groups, when they were taken over by those
fanatics who use abuse as a form of argument. The trolls came later,
and the near-total loss of interest last - there was some causality,
but I cannot be sure of the importance of that.

My understanding is that the old hands have gone to Forums instead but they
don't appear to be my sort of thing from those that I've seen and tried, too
disjointed somehow. I tried one again yesterday to try to get an answer to
my question but didn't like it at all. What they see better there than on
Newsgroups beats me.

No way. That is claimed by the idiots who wanted to "move with the
times" and "be relevant to the modern Web-oriented younger generation".
The University of Cambridge did that for its internal newsgroups, and
the fora are all but moribund. I have seen that in a dozen other
contexts, too.

I came off Facebook because I saw nothing in it only dire security defaults
which most don't seem to understand or even care about, even parents with
children don't seem to concern themselves. Having friends might have helped.
:-(
As for Twitter it sounds like a Tower of Babel which would not be my cup of
tea but I suppose I'll have to try it sometime. Perhaps I'll get into it,
millions seem to.

There is considerable evidence that neither are used for anything
beyond wasting time, idle gossip and so on.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

And that last sentence, Nick, explains why this group and others will
die the death. Of course, there's a lot of nonsense on Twitter and on
Facebook. There is on here, to when we're in a punny mood. Both can
be avoided quite easily by being specific in who you follow and by
ignoring or blocking those you don't wish to see, or to have follow
you. I speak as one who was vehemently anti joining either.
Eventually, I was persuaded/bullied by one of my daughters to use both.
My personal presence on Fb is quite slight and the Nursery has its own
'page' attached to that. On Twitter, I post as myself and I make
certain that we follow or we are followed by, only those relevant to
our interests. In effect, it is little different to a newsgroup but
it is much more widely used. I wouldn't announce my absence from home
on Twitter, but nor would I on here. ALL are open to the public gaze
to just the same degree. The only difference is frequency of use. I
post no private photos or infomation to my Fb account and I discuss no
private matters. BUT the stimulus is far greater because of the
frequency of use and the fact that most people on both are younger than
most denizens of urg. I'm not pushing for either as in abandoning urg
but I am saying that looking at blogs might, at the very least, makes a
welcome change from repetitive discussions on why someone's veg aren't
growing, why a lawnmower won't start, or why michaelmas daisies aren't
doing too well for the 5th year running. Perhaps we could consider
widening our horizons simply by reading what others have to say in
blogs. There is no commitment!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk