On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:58:21 +0200, Mike Tommasi > said:

] On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 09:13:58 +0200, Emery Davis >
] wrote:
]
]
] >http://www.thewineblog.net/wine/
] >
] >No we haven't discussed it online here. Recent events make me wonder if
] >perhaps we shouldn't do so, though. I'm torn between loyalty to the old
] >idea of newsgroup communities and what may be the modern reality of
] >very wide (and often juvenile) access.
]
] Again, it is not a matter of loyalty, they are two different things,
] and quite compatible I think.
]

I take your point, but I also notice we haven't heard from M. Spohn here
recently. I wonder if the whole idea of newsgroups isn't changing, and
if mechanisms like the blog won't eventually replace them. An example
is the uk gardening group urg. Used to be quite useful. Now so filled
with noise, trolls and flame wars as to be practically unreadable. Recently
it was attacked by robot-wielding trolls (who make ours here look benign
in the extreme) which many servers were unable to filter, effectively rendering
it offline for many users.

] Note about the juvenile aspect, most blogs are indeed created by
] teenagers who write all kinds of crap the first week and then never
] touch it again. This accounts for most of the so-called blog
] phenomenon, it is therefore a non-event really ;-)
]
] But in the midst of all the noice there are some really good ones. My
] tack was to go for the niche of community web logs, that is what
] thewineblog.net is.
]

That's true I'm sure. I was actually referring to the juveniles we sometimes
get here, and who are much more present on some other ngs.

] >
] >In effect I agreed whole heartedly with Mark L's comment on the blog, although
] >I didn't respond, but now I'm starting to wonder if maybe Bill (if he has picked
] >up his bags) has the right idea.
]
] I get the feeling that I have missed a few posts. I cannot find any
] comment by Mark L on the blog...
]

He commented on 12 march:

"I think that we're also seeing another, wholly unanticipated, effect of "Sideways" in afw: the arrival of trolls. My best guess is that they
take the character of Miles in the film as somehow emblematic of a winelover and decide to take aim at pomposity, slavishness to
reviewers, etc. by trolling afw. *sigh* Hopefully, once the movie has left the theaters we'll slowly return to our normal, civil forum
before all the quality posters decide to up and leave (Bill, are you listening?)"

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to
by removing the well known companies