"Peter Maus" wrote in message
...
Eric F. Richards wrote:
"Jim Douglas" wrote:
Holy crap batman I only get 5-10 posts total daily, WTF, I am
using COMCAST,
anyone else using COMCAST and getting dribbles?
"Telamon" wrote in
message
digy.com...
My news server must be on the fritz only 8 posts for today? This
is a
100 to 300 posts a day news group.
--
Telamon
Ventura, California
I'm not seeing much traffic any more at this point, either. I
figured
the flamers (yes, I've done it, too) have driven the serious
posters
away.
Sometimes the serious participants simply go into lurking mode.
I've been with the group for about a decade, now, but have fallen
into lurking mode, because much of what comes up is the same stuff
that came up when I first joined the group. Lots of beginners'
questions, and a good deal of rehash of common problems.
Most of the gratuitous flamers have exited after becoming bored.
Those that remain become more topical, less bellicose.
So, it's not that the serious players have left, they're just
waiting to participate in a discussion that they've not already been
involved in.
Peter, you should post more often. It's always good
to see a voice from the past.
There's also the fact that much of what shortwave was several
years ago is now much different. With more major broadcasters
removing themselves by degrees, or in total from HF in favor of
Internet, podcasts, satellite radio, or any and all. And service by
the majors to North America being all but abandoned. Though there's
still a good deal of content, and some of it quite interesting, many
of the staples have given way to US religious broadcasters which are
of less interest to the serious DXers here, resulting in attrition
from the bands, and from the newsgroup as well.
As I've said in the past, it all depends on what the
major broadcasters are trying to accomplish. If the
idea is to broadcast primarily to expatriates, then
you can use the more advanced forms of communication
as the expatriates will be willing to look them up. If
the idea is to broadcast views to the broadest possible
audience, then SW should remain as part of the solution,
as it reaches more people with less cost requirements
than other solutions.
World tensions and shifting political sands do create a need for
SW in many regions of the world, but as David posted here recently,
SW is not a primary, or even secondary medium for much of the world.
This, too, results in changes, often sudden and dramatic, in usage
of the bands, and subsequently the usage of this newsgroup.
Hard truth is that SW was at one time, a significant medium for
Europe. And for Europeans living abroad, it was often the only
source of news from home. For many governments, SW was the most cost
effective medium for widely distributing propaganda, news, culture
and popular entertainment. Local media, as it was instituted quickly
displaced SW in the public attention. Outside of European culture,
SW has been a novelty for the rest of us. If that.
This situation is not showing any signs of reversal.
There are other factors, such as energy costs and
governmental priorities, that drive decisions on
SW broadcasting as well. If you look at SW
broadcasting as far as ratings are concerned, you're
probably going to be hard pressed to find any
good consistent Nielsen rating-esque method
of finding out listenership. It's easier to say, "XXX
website has XXX hits", and be able to draw
conclusions, or also perform the same service
as the Nielsen Netratings, so there is data for
policymaking. SW listenership is a bit more
nebulous, so it's a bit harder to ascertain. That
makes it also more difficult to defend when the
people who make the decisions are used to a
corporate-style cost benefit analysis.
Meaning, in the end, this newsgroup will be comprised of
enthusiasts, and hobbycraft participants. As newsgroup history has
demonstrated over the last 10 years, not every SW enthusiast
remains an enthusiast. Atrition will reduce the numbers as people
entering the hobby anew will be, because there is little or no
active widespread promotion of SW listening, fewer than those
exiting.
While flamers have no doubt run off some of the players here,
and some of the serious players have gone into lurking mode, the
changing nature of SW itself is responsible for the loss of regulars
here.
One other item to note is that the real world will often
intrude. There was a period of several years where
I didn't touch SW at all, because of the time factor.
I'm also sure that later on in life, as the kids become
more active with evening events like sports, scouts
and whatnot, my free time for SW will decline again.
Still later, when they are all teens, I'm sure that the
free time will start to go back up, and my availability
for SW listening with it.
This is the same item that you see in the boardgame
community: when the old Atari and Intellivision came
out, there was a dropoff in boardgame usage. That
dropoff has become heightened over the years as
the video games replaced board games as the primary
game of choice of kids. However, there is still a
subset of people who still play boardgames, and there
is a cottage industry of companies that have since
sprung up to cater to that group that looks for things
other than the latest Monopoly variant.
--Mike L.
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