"Rick" ) writes:
Some users think they are doing those of us who are interested in antennas a
favor by posting what they think are useful topics - something "everyone
needs to know." Sometimes it is cellphone do not call lists. Other times
it is some PC virus, etc. etc. Usually it is bogus information that the
original poster was misled into believing, and ends up costing all of us
wasted time. There are tens of thousands of newsgroups where these topics
can be discussed.
When I enter rec.radio.amateur.antennas all I want to see is stuff about
antennas.

It's the decay of newsgroups. People decide a given newsgroup is their
hangout, rather than a place to dicuss the topic the newsgroup was created
for. So instead of going to a newsgroup to discuss the off topic things
where they are on topic, they decide they should share the off topic stuff
with their "buddies" in the favorite newsgroup.

I've seen people come into a newsgroup, and jump into that hangout mentality
without ever really participating in the newsgroup for its intended purpose.
They fit in because they just have to emulate the people who are using
it as a hangout.

Puttiung "OT" in the subject header is just a way of legitimizing it all,
they figure it hey are polite and label the off topic posts, then it's okay.
It completely sidesteps the issue of why the off topic junk is there in
the first place.

I still read newsgroups I've read for over a decade that barely have
any traffic in them.

But I keep leaving newsgroups that I've been reading and posting to
for as long, as they turn into hangouts for such people. I don't want
to wade through the junk.

The people who see the newsgroup as their hangout don't see an issue
because they are perfectly happy to talk about off-topic things.

IN reality, they are extremely selfish, since they are only thinking
of their own happiness, and not the state of the newsgroup. They
think because they are the most frequent posters that that gives
them say. Meanwhile, the newsgroup loses the people who stick around
and post when they actually have something valid to say, because they
aren't interested in the off topic junk (at least not when it's off topic,
they are likely the ones who go to multiple newsgroups to fulfill their
need to discuss multiple topics). Go far enough, and the only posters
are the ones who use it as a hangout, and pretty much none of what they
say is on-topic. Maybe more important, if their only interest is
in talking to a handful of other "regulars" then they might as well
move to a private space, where they can discuss anything they want
without any interlopers.

And the joke is that people will say "but we don't care, we want to do
this". All of the newsgroups I've left because of this inane behaviour,
I was there before these people came along and decided to turn the
newsgroup into their own hangout.

These same smug people are all so quick to go after spam, and other
"interlopers" but they don't realize that they are the ones killing
the newsgroups.

Michael VE2BVW