Is this a new low?

Today when I logged onto the group, there were only FOUR new messages. I can remember when rms ran about 200-300 messages a day.

While maybe the message count really is dropping this low, I thought of another possibility. My ISP has stopped supporting newsgroups, but I discovered Google Groups. While some groups may not be part of Usenet, mostly GG is a web-based interface with Usenet newsgroups. But.... I do not know for sure that GG really shows ALL Usenet messages. For those of you still using a news reader interface, is the message count REALLY getting that low, or is it just that GG is not that much better than my ISP as far as Usenet interface is concerned?

Reply to
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
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I'd think google groups gets a higher count, as I don't think it supports killfile (without 3rd party scripts), so you get all the junk. It may very well be less posting, due to summer, due to other message boards blogs, due to too much spam in usenet, possibly a combination of all these and more.

Reply to
Sir Ray

Hi Don; I remember the days when I'd have 100 messages in the morning and 100 every night. That was a while ago.

What threads we have now tend to be the same old questions but hyperscale seems to have a lot more interesting discussions. Problem is that it's a pain in the butt to navigate.

But you're right; there's no doubt that this group is fading. FYI, when I got back from 4 days in California at IPMS, I had 114 messages in here. Hyperscale, on the other hand, was going wild with news and pictures from IPMS.

--- Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Tontoni

It may have something to do (perhaps not a great deal) with AOL's decision to drop newsgroups.

Reply to
robbelothe

that was almost 2 years ago. i have seen many groups ebb and flow. sometimes they renew, sometimes they die. we all know there is a lack of fresh blood in the hobby. the golden age of availability and the industry could easily die of starvation. i see no way to make or entice young folks into the hobby. sure, there are a few people with the peculair talents to be attracted, but the outside world has too much distraction to capture the marginals that might have at least tried. when i was young, virtually everyone at least tried a kit or two. it was a right of passage. now we can't be heard in the cacophony of choices. i despair for this hobby. it seems to be limited to the current few 30 year olds, the rest of us are a lot older. there will likely be collectors for a long time. people collect anything and the base for kits is strong. but the builders are dying off and will not be replaced. it's sad but look at the other fields that have died out.

Reply to
someone

In a recent survey, 80% of British teenagers said they had "nothing to do" outside of school so they hang around the streets and make trouble instead!

(kim)

Reply to
kim

they are being poorly raised by thoughtless clods to lazy to look outside them selves. just like here. a bored teenager is a misguided, neglected or stupid teenager.

Reply to
someone

I had 34 unread messages - not too high, but not as bad as your message count.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

We should somehow get the word out to AOL subscribers about the GG interface. I think many ISPs are dropping Usenet, so we need to get the word out to the whole scale modeling community.

Reply to
Don Stauffer in Minnesota

I am not so sure the "youth problem" has much bearing on the message count. When I look at IPMS it is strong. We now have more local modeling clubs than ever before, and they are very healthy.

I was into model railroading as a youth. That has never been a youth activity- I was very much an exception- and that genre is also very healthy. Serious scale modeling is an adult hobby and has long been. Most of my younger modeling friends (adult, but almost everyone is younger than me) got into modeling as an adult- only a few of us in group modeled as kids.

Reply to
Don Stauffer in Minnesota

sounds plausible. it could very well be that with most smaller and even many larger isp's dropping usenet that less people are learning about it. there is also the fact that usenet takes some brains to setup and use. perhaps we need a crusade in the clubs to expos usenet to the young. i've probably gotten over 100 people on usenet but none were modelers. no clubs where i live so no one to teach.... and as stated, yahoo and google groups suck in a lot of people.

Reply to
someone

I agree with the others. I too am forced to use Google and I thought that the numbers were low. Groups I have been on for years including r.m.s. have steadily been slowing down. Especially the last couple of years. but from talking to others on those groups, it really is less posting,and not Google missing posts.

There is one caveat, however. I have found that you can't trust the activity and post counts that Google gives you. It can say no activity for "blank" numbe of hours, but if you open the group, there has obviously been activity in the way of new posts.

Part of the slowdown is my fault. :-) I don't post like I used to either. Ever since I got remarried 2 years ago my current wife isn't thrilled if I am on the computer excessively like I used to do to escape the problems of my first marriage. I used to be on for several hours a day, now it is mostly an hour or so at most, and most of that is on a Vintage Ford Mustang car forum. The time I am on the groups I just scan for really interesting to me posts, or posts by certain members. For example, here I look for car posts. I don't read the military stuff anymore. I should actually go to the newer sites, but I am just not that willing to spend the time anymore. I play Hearts or Minesweeper more than I am online these days.

russ

Reply to
russ

Usenet isn't the gateway to web discussions it was when I first go online 11 years ago. Then, RMS was more or less it as far as modelling chat was concerned. You had websites, but discussion baords were in their infancy.

Now, most go straight to the web and I'll bet 75% of Hyperscale or ARC users have never heard of Usenet or rms.

Almost all the old RMS regulars can still be found on the various forums. they just don't come here anymore.

Remove nospam to reply!!

Reply to
Dave Fleming

I think I posted on Hyperscale once and I don't think I ever got a reply. Can't say if I was ever over to ARC. Since I can't, I probably didn't. I do read the Hobby Heaven board but don't post all that often anymore. There's a whole lot of custom car builders over there and I'm really not that into customs. R-M's new '49 Mercury is all the rage currently and it's moulded with a lowered roof. Building a stock auto out of it is difficult so I have no plans to get one. I still have an unfinished AMT kit here to do.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

The small numbers of kids in the this hobby has always been a concern. The latest attempt to improve the situation seems to help.

The IPMS Make & Take program is quite a success. A couple of weeks ago our chapter hosted the event at the Wings Over Wine Country air show. I forget the actual count, but I think that it was around 150 kits were made and taken home. Several new local members were also recruited. Another positive aspect of IPMS has been the new Journal. It was hard to recruit new members, especially kids, with the old Journal and it's neverending bitch, moan and complain contents. The new Journal is attracting new members and, especially, younger modelers.

Tom

Reply to
maiesm72

I don't recall if it was the Journal or not but when I was a member back in the Stone Age their publications were full of the name-calling. It did not look good and took a lot of space. When I joined I was really expecting something better than that. I think I kept about 6 pages of useful info from all the paper I got from the group.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Reply to
Mad-Modeller

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