META: Number of annual messages on rctn.

So, business as usual ;^)

Good to hear from you. Honestly, I think that the personality of this group, which has certainly veered all over the place, is why so many are long-timers here. There are many other places to go and discuss nothing but stitching. Your progress on a piece, SALs all over the net, groups for particular designers, or big projects, or samplers, etc. I imagine, that like myself, others spend some time on other lists doing just that - being in specific chat about needlework. For myself, those groups fill the technical stitching info, with some being socially nice, some social chat - congrats, happy dances, new babies, new designs - but they do stay in focus for the most part. Some of those groups I barely drop in on. There are others that are all on-topic - all the time - like the ANG discussion group. It's very useful, and generally interesting for stitching news, but very focussed and never off-topic - except for seminar discussions.

We all pick and choose what suits us. I like that here I feel some kinship, and relationships - some of these people I've been chatting with for almost

15 years on and off - wow! When it was the first resource I could find - aside from the guilds. I do like the resource for the variety of information, stitching, etc but it's the whole picture that suits me - well, except for political flame wars. OTOH, I post extremely infrequently on a couple of other lists, but I do skim them.

I know other people that love posting daily on how their stitching progress is going - check out the Big A-- Project group on Yahoo, and lots of off shoots. I just don't do that. I expect the variety available, as we all know, has led to our messages going down, and now sort of levelling off. As well as how people have access or their lack of it, to news readers.

Ellice

It is the most annoying thing when people are so busy checking their phone screens during theatre time. We saw Legally Blonde, the musical, on Sat night at Ken Ctr. The typical turn off the pagers, phones, beeping watches, etc message was a riot - instead of the usual formal guy, it was done with the "Elle Wood" sorority girl voice and chat. Of course, there is always some one who won't turn theirs off - last winter the guy across the aisle at some serious drama kept checking his screen for footbal scores - at the intermission I actually had to ask him to cut it out. Really annoying. Especially, at the price of theater tix, to be so wasting time inspecting your phone screen. Honestly.

Ellice

ellice wrote: > Wow - it is really windy out here today. Sounds like a freight train

We've got the same here. Sunny and not especially cold (35 degrees F), except HUGE winds that bring a chill. We went out to lunch, and walked a block from parking the car to the restaurant, down an alley with buildings on either side, so it was like a wind tunnel.

They've been predicting a "coastal storm" since last weekend, but I'm not sure when it's supposed to hit. If these winds don't die down, they probably won't have a huge crowd down at the Baltimore Harbor for fireworks tonight!

I picked up a new mystery cozy about crochet last night, so I think I'll cocoon with that...Maybe even a fire in the fireplace. It's that kind of a day.

> >

The friend who "haunts" the used paperback stores brought me that one a few weeks back.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

That`s the whole point - it should be what the majority WANT it to be. After all, if you join a craft club, you discuss all manner of subjects besides the crafts. That`s how you get to know people! I`ve made some really good friends here, which I might never have got to know had we all discussed needlework and nothing else. We don`t always agree - but that`s life, and we move on.

Pat

Hello Jim,

Thanks for doing this. I do find the numbers interesting.

Rosemary

Oh geez! Sorry to add after such a long post. Just wanted to say that DD's computer is right next to mine and I know most of what goes on in her online life. All her buddies have me in their Friends list on My Space and I'm part of the community too. DD's had intensive lessons on not revealing identifying info and in knowing that anyone not personally known to her might be a dirty old man trawling for victims. Electronic communication is here to stay, so the best way of protecting your kids is to train them in its judicious use. 'kay... I'll shuddup now. ;-D

We only have them in case of accident or emergency when out. They`re never switched on, unless we`re expecting some really urgent or important info but HAVE to go out. Very few people are so important that they need to be available at all times! What really rattles my chains is seeing people in supermarkets phoning home to ask an opinion "Shall we have Ready-brek or Wheaties, dear!" How the hell did they actually manage to do the shopping before mobile phones???

Pat (definitely in GOW mode)

So stop condemning the people who use them sagely for all sorts of very good reasons. I know people who have them so that if one partner is out, the other can be in touch instantly if taken ill, an elderly person who once had her car break down and she had to rely on waving someone down, she changed her opinion and now carries one.

I have used mine to summon an ambulance to a very nasty accident and to 'phone the girls mother and tell her that her daughter had a bad accident but was safe and being taken to the QE II Hospital.

My younger daughter has one and it saves her masses of time with her work as she is mostly out and about, without that she would be retracing herself constantly.

There are bad aspects but there are also good aspects and I know when mine went kaput, I replaced it within hours. I think it is perfectly normal that teens and young people would maybe overuse them but then in my kids days, they tied up our 'phone with long conversations so that we eventually in self defence put in another line, more costly than a cell 'phone that the kid can pay for themselves.

My first thought is at least they are communicating with someone. We try and peer into DS's Facebook and MySpace activity (he rarely logs off his computer) every few months. His cousins, his hockey buddies and some school related stuff.

But I do understand the "who are they talking to" part.

Cheryl

On the other side of that, as we move to cell phones and call waiting that identifies the caller, I *miss* having serendipitous little chats with other family members - the husbands or children of friends. I wouldn't necessarily call the family members directly, but I truly enjoy spending a few minutes catching up with the young adult son/daughter who happens to pick up the phone, for example. That's one aspect of the "personalization" of communication that we're losing.

Sue

You do have a point - the crunching and rattling of chip bags is really annoying. A young fellow a few seats over from us must've had the biggest bag of chips on earth - it lasted the whole show. I find usually people are very good at trying to make as least noise as possible, but the other night, I think all the morons were in that theatre.

Sharon (N.B.)

'ang on a minute! I haven't 'condemned' anyone! I just said I hate the filthy things. That would be the phones, not the people who use them.

All perfectly good uses and I wouldn't deny anyone a single one of them.

I think you missed the point of my post(s), which was that even though I hate the filthy things, they have become a vital part of modern living for a variety of good reasons (some of which you listed above). Hence, I've given both my kids a mobile phone. Sorry if my delivery was so involuted I didn't make myself clear! ;-D

Or, see the numbers according to googlegroups:

Any idea how much of that was spam type postings?

'fraid not. My impression is not very much. As I have explained before, my ISP numbers every message. We are now over 700,000. So I just note the message number at the end of each year. Jim

Joan

Hey! You should all be X no archive - you could be living on the ether in fifty years time~