Hi, Roy,
Roy Schestowitz wrote:
What I describe in this message is my honest opinion, which you may respect
at some level or simply be annoyed by. Either way, I am fairly certain that
a few (a minority at least) will nod and at the same time consider it to be
heresy.
Probably.
I like alt.www.webmaster. There are some very knowledgeable and funny people
that partake in discussions. Nonethess, there are also a few deterrents.
Yep. Just like in real life.
The newsgroups often appears to be chatroom for boys and girls -- or shall I
say -- boys /and/ girls. It quickly slides into non-technical issues and
dialogues that are hard to follow. To survive in this groups without
killing time, one must hit ignore on very many threads. Moreover, I sensed
that people in this group give short answers, which could otherwise be more
helpful.
Yep. Gee, the same thing happens in real life, also - get started on a
technical topic and end up talking about women. Interesting how things like
that go.
Lastly and perhaps not worth mentioning is the recent vandalism by the
Google Groups demonstrator. It definitely did not help. Had that person
been ignored rather than provoked, perhaps, just perhaps, he would have
vanished more quickly. At present, it is hard for me to take the group
seriously and I sometimes don't even skimp the subject lines. If I get
'entangled' in a thread, it may easily carry on for a week. Even a trivial
question about domain registration can find its odd path into a discussion
about fruit and vegetables.
Who cares about him. I plonked him after about two days. Never saw anything
after that except for a few responses.
Just my 50 cents guys... I didn't mean to offend anyone.
Roy
Roy, since you've been watching for a while, you know this is a group where web
masters can go not only for technical help, but to share their victories and
frustrations. No, not everything is on target. And sometimes we get idiots in
here.
But hey - that's the way the internet (and life) runs. If you want a newsgroup
with only technical information, you can always get a moderated newsgroup
running. Then you have no off-topic posts. You have no demonstrators (other
than those who occasionally are able to bypass the moderation).
I think part of what makes a.w.w. interesting is the off-topic posts. It allows
people to get away from the technical issues, brag about their latest
child's/town's/favorite team's achievements, blow off steam, and more. And you
can learn a lot more about what it's like to live in other parts of the world
than you ever will on CNN or from a book. For instance (not to pick on our U.K.
friends), even though I've never been to the U.K. (unless you count a plane
change at Heathrow), I feel I know a lot more than most Americans about living
there because of all this newsgroup.
And yes, sometimes we do get carried away. And sometimes the discussion does
get a little hot. But hey - when you're passionate about something, it happens!
But I personally have great respect for the regulars here, including their
opinions and knowledge, even if they do disagree with me.
But it's interesting - I monitor two newsgroups which are moderated. One got 18
posts last month (five by the moderators). The other got 28 posts (none from
the moderators. And these are "lightly moderated". They are also highly boring.
Take away the "off topic" posts and people will quickly start to drift away.
And this would be a *really boring* place.
--
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Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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