OT: Number of RCTN messages in 2006.

Cheryl Isaak ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

It reduces the traffic using the killfile but we try to get together (we, as in the sane ones) every two months or so at the pub. Been doing that too now for maybe five or six years. I have met people I would not have met any other way, we're an assorted bunch from all walks of life but have this love of discussion in common.

I am sure other people in the pub are trying to figure out what our connection is, we clearly are not an office group or anything like that. I am the oldest, of course !

I'm quite surprised you got that response. They use Click and Buy and you can pay by check. I've had to write the news source (I believe it's a German university) and they've always been kind.

Dianne

Liz from Humbug wrote:

I got the same (lack of) response, but then DH switched to cable modem for work, so now I use Comcast's newsfeed.

Elizabeth

Usent was just so accessible in the "early days" . DH and I have some friends that host moderated list forums - but they're very specific, and do work really well, and have membership in the 100s not the huge amount that could be on a group like this.

It's been interesting - as with one of those lists a couple of guys were getting out of control with their language - so after warnings, and some stupid flames - the list owner simply removed them. These lists are moderated in the sense of things being checked before posting. Just if you're out of line with language, abuse -then it's handled. Of course - these are hockey lists. So, eventually the list split into 2 similar lists

- and I'd say 95% of the original group also joined the splinter group - but the more "peaceful" list is now much smaller - probably only about 40% of the newer one belong to the original. OTOH, the ANG official list is checked regularly by the list moderatores - and if it gets offtopic or too chatty in the drifting sense - you will get an e-mail from the list police. But, they have their reasons.

I think one of the reasons for decrease in the Usenet is the popping up of so many other groups - via shops, designers, etc - and people get busy.

It's interesting to me that on this group there's such a cross section, and people can be active, go away, come back - things just carry on - new cyber friends, old cyber friends, etc. By not being affiliated with a specific shop or designer - there's certainly freedom to express opinions a bit more openly than may otherwise be the case.

ellice

ellice ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

And that is one of the prime reasons I dislike them, one is agreeing to censorship. Our local usenet group had problems with a forum person who decided to 'mirror' our group. For a start the posting methods are different so all these posts appearing with none of the post being replied to accompanying it was frustrating.

It finally reached a stage where some of our guys joined his stupid forum and created havoc there and also reported him to his ISP and all of a sudden he 'unmirrored' his group because of the poor attitude of our group! I gather it was easier to sell his forum for ads because all our groups posts were showing as posts on his forum.

So we had a person who decided that he would mirror our group but at the same time try and control who joined his group and what they said. Fortunately we have some very high tech people on our group and they soon drove him into the ground ! Mostly it was the juvenile posts they sent, swearing all the time quite needlessly, always dissing other posters and a very macho idea of the purpose for why women are on earth.

I did investigate other forums to see if they were similar, seemed to be, the only one I know that is not, is a bridge players forum.

It may depend upon your personal perception of what is meant by "active" and what is meant by "censorship". I have run a message forum from my site(both UBB and PHP) for at least eight years and I've never censored anyone. My husband has run a forum from his site for ten years and has only had one individual who had to be banned a couple of times, and he eventually lets him back on. His board is very active. My daughter has a PHP forum (support group) and it is very active. Each of us allows for the free discussion of ideas and concepts and differences of opinion. My husband has his own peculiar brand of logic: It's my forum and it's not a democracy. But his members are loyal, long term and he's only had to institute a formal ban on one individual who got to be a royal pain a few times. He has a world-wide audience (as does my daughter) and there are the normal disagreements and a wide variety of opinions expressed.

I'm a strong proponent of Usenet and I mourn the loss of many individuals who have come and gone here. I started my own forum because, in RCTNs early days, not very many individuals were enamored with surface embroidery. 99% of the posts were about cross stitching or counted stitching, with some needlepoint thrown in for good measure. Indeed, some participants of RCTN were downright ugly toward anyone who did anything else. I wouldn't call my forum a huge success, but it has a few active members that I cherish. Part of the problem is that there are so many forums for niche embroideries, such as Swedish, regional, Hardangersom, Mountmellick. That's what made Usenet so useful in its heydey. Lots of people to draw upon. And that's what I miss most of all.

Dianne

Dianne Lewandowski ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

I do notice though, don't you, that if someone asks a question here about any embroidery rather than cross stitch, plenty of replies pop up right away?

So us non-cross stitchers are here but I really have nothing to add to their subject, so leave it to them. I have never seen any comments in a long time inferring that cross stitch is the only embroidery one can do.

I find if I am doing hardanger, mountmellick, gold work, Richelieu etc. I rarely (because of my advanced years) have to ask anymore ! So I enjoy the OT parts and knowing some of the posters here until such a time as there is a question I would like to answer.

Absolutely.

I belong to a professional group where the owner/moderator has been incommunicado for years. Since there is no one to take care of moderating/banning, we have been inundated with spam. (I, personally, would have no problem with topic-relevant spamming, e.g., a LNS owner popping in to tell stitchers about her wares. But to pop into a group of legal professionals and offer us illegal prescription medications is clearly off topic.)

I do have my YahooGroups set to moderate new members, but the only messages I didn't approve were spam-bots and a solicitation to scan and distribute copyright-protected patterns. I will admit to having edited a couple of posts, removing salutations like "You #^%!, you have your head up your @$$" while leaving the more rational discussion of the subject intact. That's not "censorship", it's making the post conform to the "no profanity" rules of the list.

There have been a few spams to rctnp during my time. I have it set to always relay a post to my yahoo address. That way, as soon as I know it is there, I am able to eliminate it.

I have never, nor will I ever, eliminate anything else, although I suppose I could if I wished but when I took it on I did say I was not going to moderate.

What is frustrating is that most of the spam has come from a yahoo address - go figure ! I have tried reporting it and drawing it to yahoo's attention, but ask me how much they care.

I specifically mentioned ". . . in the early days . . ." Yes, now persons are much more open, there are many more who do a wide variety of types of stitching, and all are quite helpful. But that hasn't always been the case. I was just mentioning why *some* of the private forums popped up.

Also, this is a multi-faceted forum. Some people dislike the squirmishes that happen here and thus, form their own groups. Private groups tend to be more civil. Whether that is because of the threat of banishment or whether it is peer pressure or other consideration I will leave to other people to decide.

Dianne

As far as Yahoo and Delphi go: I don't know how to start a group (though I belong to several) and I do not know what the problems are in maintaining them.

I am specifically aiming my thoughts and discussion on private forums (some of you think of as bulletin boards). They are rife with spam. Both robot and nasty individuals who post p*rn and advertising. I've since eliminated the latter problem, but it's time consuming. Some boards are rife with spam. I maintain three boards, so it can take a lot of effort to keep them spam free. My husband was so sick of it that he changed to a different board software (SMF) so that membership queries can be emailed direct. That has stopped all spam. I'm dealing with a different crowd and don't dare do that.

Dianne

I totally understand the anti-censorship idea. With the couple of hockey forums - the basic ettiquette is posted, and there is a website and archive. So, the couple of guys that got way too rude and obscene - it wasn't just opinion argument - but personal, nastiness - were warned. IIRC the owner warned them a few times, and then finally I think the one guy was "suspended" for some period of time, and the other obscenely told everyone what he thought, and then he resigned. Fortunately no one moderates the opinions - just in that instance it was about the real unpleasantness.

Good to have some sane techies. Around here - this is the computer geek techie area of the US - after Silicon Valley... So, similarly - the guys who run the couple of lists are fine, and along with at least half the listites

- tend to figure things out.

Interesting. For us - we don't do too much on-line chatting. Some other officials (hockey) stuff, RCTQ, and that's about it. But, we had some crazy stuff with a (honestly emotionally disturbed) former hockey ref (he lost it in a game, working with the DH ) ended up suspended, which ended with him resigning from officiating. Anyhow - we found this guy posting all over Usenet, using my maiden name, and duping my way old e-mail address - with really obscene, ridiculous, argumentative posts. In all kinds of groups - a Disney group, a food group, a beatles group, and catch this - a "the Monkees" group - to name a few. Anyhow, we're fortunately techies, and worked out back to the ISP link, and filed a formal complaint, which also went to the FCC, and the then commissioner of our hockey officials association - who works at DOJ - helped us. The guy hadn't resigned when he started the postings - essentially identity theft. We tracked about 2 years of psycho stuff. Weird.

ellice

We have one of those nutters on our local (uncensored) group, although he trawls a lot of other groups, too - he`s even "haunted" me on here. He`s particularly dangerous to new people as he makes a point of befriending them, then twisting personal things they may have mentioned in passing and broadcasting his version of things everywhere! Several of us suspected he might have something to do with our recent crop of murders, having seen his posts about some of his nefarious activities. (Probably wishful thinking on his part, but you never know).

Unfortunately there is always some infuriated post about him on the group - in some ways (most ways) I wish they wouldn`t keep referring to him, as it boosts his ego. On the other hand, at least new people quickly find out what everyone else thinks of him, and are forewarned! The only thing I will say about him is that at least I don`t recall foul lamguage. I can curse as well as the next, under duress and in private (usually - no-one`s perfect!), but hate to see it in written form or in general conversation.

Pat

This is easily solved. We simply have to declare hockey, weather, and general kvetching to be on topic!

Is this the word to describe putting someone on the hotseat?