Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
At the risk of being unpopular
On 06/11/13 17:50, 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 don't know if this is because of disinterest, complacence or a belief that urg will continue into the mists of time. It won't. I'm guilty of being a lurker on here, largely because the group's experiences are far wider than mine, but I'm not a youngster either. In those regards I bring nothing to the group. Yet, why do I lurk here? The answer is simple: it's because I find useful information on topics I'm interested in! For example, there were a number of posts a few weeks ago that talked about black spot, the sort that grows on patio paving, and I realised that that is what I have. So, despite the gloomy nature of the postings, I set about about finding a way to deal with it. It's very early days yet, but I might have had some success. However, it will be quite some time, possibly a year or two, before long-term success could be claimed. My next step is to take some 'before and after' photos, to show what could be done, but that's several weeks ahead. So, if this is a success, I could report back to the group and thus contribute to the knowledge-base. I suppose I'm saying here that there is more to this group than might appear on the surface, and from my ~20 years on Usenet that appears to be pretty much universal. Another widespread concern is exactly what you say here, about what you see as the decline of Usenet - it has occurred in nearly every group I read. Yet, are things that bad? The Usenet server Eternal-September was so named for a specific reason: up to 1993, Usenet was largely restricted to Universities, and in that year it was discovered by the wider internet community and as a result usage grew enormously - some might say that quality fell as a result. Nowadays we have the blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter, Ask FM, in fact any number of 'social media' sites - none of which have Usenet's advantages and none of which existed back then. It's inevitable that new things will come along to replace the old, or at least compete with it. But that doesn't make them better, even if it does make them more popular. If it came to a contest between quantity and quality, I know which I'd choose. Here's some uk-hierarchy usage figures: http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/spoolstats/ You'll see what might be the first signs of stability after some years of steady decline, and it has been speculated that Usenet is getting back the pre-1993 levels of usage. If this is in fact the case, then perhaps your fears are largely unfounded, in that those left on Usenet are the ones who want to be here, who see blogs, forums, FB and Twitter as poor substitutes for the text-based, decentralised, advert-free system we currently enjoy. But are FB and Twitter themselves set to be dominant forever? I doubt it. I feel you may have over-egged the doom-and-gloom, but of course only time will tell. -- John Milner |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
At the risk of being a bore... | United Kingdom | |||
At the risk of being unpopular | United Kingdom | |||
RISK ASSESSMENT STRATEGY FOR BT CROPS IN THE NETHERLANDS | sci.agriculture | |||
kombucha at home: health risk? | Plant Science | |||
New Scientist - glyphosate, increases the risk of fungal infections | United Kingdom |