Sorta OT: Is RMS fading away?

RMS is in sort of an ebb right now, but I think it's still viable--certainly on-topic enquiries still bring significant response, such as the DC-3/C-47 thread that's been going for a few days. The fragmentation cannot be prevented, nor should it--we're all doing this for fun, I should hope, and if a forum more concentrated on a particular topic works better for someone, then it's good it's there. I haven't found any of the other forums to be satisfactory for my purposes--Hyperscale's interface is far inferior to the newsreader I use with Usenet, and the other forums I've checked are even worse. If Hyperscale were set up so I could see the titles of 90 or 100 threads simultaneously, and access any one of them from that page, I'd probably be there a lot.

Mark Schynert

in article snipped-for-privacy@news06.west.earthlink.net, Mark Schynert at snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote on 10/29/03 1:00 PM:

I'm not nearly the reader of RMS that I was once. I get many times more information and enjoyment from Hyperscale, even though the Forum layout takes space and time to peruse. RMS at the moment is dominated my political views and abuse that I don't need. So, I go elsewhere for the most part and try to pick the threads that interest me, when I can find one.

MB

I used to read a lot more newsgroups,and check them more often.But between the spam,off-off topic posts and the general bile of some posters,I rarely bother anymore...and RMS is the only group I bother with at all now. Modeling is a stress reliever,and some of the postings in here just add stress...not worth it.

I've wondered about this a good deal as well, Bill. There was/were/are times when the dreaded 'split the group' thread rears up but in essence, that's just what has happened. I, too recall

250-350 posts per day, so much that it was almost a drudgery coming in on Monday and wading through over 1000 posts. With the advent of these other forums, websites and the like, it's diluted the post count, if not the subject matter. Armorama, Hyperscale, Modeling Madness, Modelersite, Aircraft Resource Center, Hobby Heaven, Kithobbyist, Track-Link, Model Warships, Strictly Stock, pick-your-favorite-Yahoo-group, and many, many more; they've all had a hand in it, though they do offer substantial benefits as well. I'll be honest, I liked it here back then as I do now, as there were far more and varied posts on all sorts of modeling topics. Now, we have the situation where an off-topic thread far outlasts and outnumbers on-topic modeling subjects. Maybe we should hold another modelers poll and get reintroduced to each other as there's been a good deal of membership churn in the past 12-18 months. For someone like me, who builds a lot of different subjects, it's a bad thing as the number of folks who used to post here has dwindled, as has their cumulative knowledge. I eschew going to multiple sites for info and pointers as I find it far too time consuming for me (see the list of websites above). I've also found myself posting far less and modeling more; indeed a good thing but also less than helpful for the cause of RMS. RMS won't die I'm sure, but a low tide from time to time is inevitable. That's what I think we're seeing now...

Frank Kranick IPMS/USA 20352

I agree there is definately a decline. I stayed away for awhile as I became bored by the far numerous political posts and outrageous abuses I found myself reading even though I swore them off. but I do find value now for those really specific questions I have and its great to get a response back by some expert. I also like RMS becaause basicly, there are few out there that I can talk to about the subject.

On the other hand, I am spending less time on the interenet and more time on modelling also as the interest has faded on internet chat so I am glad for that.

Nate (the lurker)

Nate:

That's why I like Netscape 4.7. It has a button labeled "Mark thread read" and when I hit one of those long winded political threads I just click that one and move on.

Bill Shuey

I see the same thing as well Bill. I tend to hang my hat at Armorama.com where they lean towards the armor side. RMS has been rather armor-lite recently, save for the outstanding reviews Cookie usually pops up.

I spent too much time sifting through the same OT political/bashing/flames/etc. to make RMS of much real use.

At least at other armor related sites, the forums are moderated (to varying degrees) and I have the ability to add photos to the post or upload photos for all to use.

I still check here mainly out of force of habit, but rarely post anything of any substance. Rob Gronovius Visit my motor pool in the

gallery

Why do you read the postings that add stress?

I've never really checked out the other places mentioned so this is the first place I go before I wander over to the more visual binaries. I do check the Hobby Heaven message board for auto-related stuff and occasionally post on a topic of interest. I've noticed a seeming lower message count but it's difficult to know for sure since I can't get the newsgroups to stick. For some reason I have to re-subscribe every day since we uninstalled and re-installed Netscape over the summer.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Don't always know before you open it...

when you start seeing ftd in posts, you'll know it's time to bail.

Paolo Pizzi is over in rec.photo.digital if anyone's interested :)

"Only a Gentleman can insult me, and a true Gentleman never will..."

It still has more posts per day than all the other newsgroups I subscibe to.

Part of the problem is that rms is no longer the 'entry point' to online modelling it once was. When I first got online, the web was in it's infancy, only a few sites. RMS and usenet was well known. Now, most new 'Net types go straight to the WWW and many have never heard of usenet.

Trolling here is a mere fraction of what it was on the racing groups. One person has almost single handedly killed off my favorite.

Madmat's got the same e-mail address he's always had. He's doing a lot of motorsports journalism stuff and doesn't build anymore, but I can personally attest that he has quite a stash! He's got ash all over his neighborhood right now. IIRC, I've seen posts attributed to Jennings on Hyperscale.

I still like rms. Its where I met most of my core model buddies who I am still in contact with, many of whom I've met at races and such over the years.

Tom

i think you've contributed quite a bit of worthwhile stuff.

Tom

Nah. People didn't run out of things to talk about. They got tired of everything single post being disected, twisted and convoluted to where it bore no resemblance to its original meaning to fit a proposterous response, ridiculed unmercifully for this new interpretation of the opinion, and prolonged personal attacts, day after day.

Dunno what a "high-profile" newsgroup might be, but I've been on this newsgroup since 1992. Of all the groups I have subscribed to over the years, none have remotley experienced anything like the one I mentioned.

Tom

--snip--

Hi Rick,

I may not qualify as an "old head," having discovered RMS only 7 or 8 years ago, but your comment describes my situation well. The signal-to-noise ratio on this newsgroup is now so much lower than on Hyperscale, for example, that I don't find careful browsing here to be cost-effective, given my limited spare time. Moreover, the frequent hostile and/or mindless postings on RMS depress me, much in the same way as watching 'Cops' or 'The Jerry Springer Show' on television. Although our real world may full of morons, I feel no obligation to rub shoulders with them voluntarily.

With all due respect to the many good people here, including yourself,

Charles Metz

look in the mp3 hierarchy sometime.

That's what killfiles are for.

What, r.a.s.i? It certainly has a fair number of kooks (at least the last time I bothered to check). The closest I can think of a Big-8 newsgroup being completely wasted is n.a.n-a.u.