Mike Davis wrote:
> I wanted to let everyone know that I have a group of forums (70
> total) that cover a variety of areas that I'm interested in. One
> group of forums is dedicated to Vintage Computers and Calculators.
>
> They are at:
> http://www.msdsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=17
>
> The main entry to all forums is at:
> http://www.msdsite.com/index.php
>
> These have been up and running for a couple of years but I have not
> advertized them much. Only those that stumble across them know about
> them, for the most part.
>
> My forums cover areas of interest of calculators, computers,
> military, Marine Corps, competitive shooting, firearms, and even the
> war on terrorism. There are currently over 400 registered members
> and we need more.
>
> Feel free to stop by and browse. I can start any forum of interest
> within any of these groups. Just ask.
>
> Thanks,
>
>
Great to see more vintage and classic forums being listed. The only
thing I hate to see is the fragmentation.
Usenet, FTN-style and Qwk networks on BBS'es, etc. used to be able to
bring together scattered groups of people and individuals all over the
world in a non-centralized, non-single-point-of-failure way. Web-based
forums have really not tried to go there yet, in part because some are
commercial and sometimes proprietary, with excessive numbers of PHB's
and lawyers making policy decisions instead of the moderators and/or
users, and because even the more independent forums are usually not up
on stuff like RDF feeds or nntp backends, or aren't in a position to
implement them with their hosting services.
It's even harder now in the climate of DMCA and super DMCA's etc. that
have an effect on way more than just retransmission of movies and audio
CD's, at least when you're thinking of gating Yahoo groups or something.
Compilation copyrights, TOS's, and all that bs. Nevertheless, I'm
setting up a few FTN echos that will also be available by nntp, RDF, a
web based-forum/news site, mailing lists, etc. if anyone is interested.
It really helps everyone, though, especially in the long run. Different
forums or forum hosts come and go, and so on. Look at what has happened
to all the forums on the old online services. Most of that info is now
just plain gone, or going fast, subject to being tossed out at any time.
There is no Google archive for CIS, Delphi, the Source, etc. There is
Google, for web sites, but again, there is just all that fragmenation
which makes it hard to search for anything, and prevents discussions
from happening to begin with.
Jay, I'd be happy to work with you on gating the cc lists, if you're
interested. Anyone else has any ideas on this, please chime in. I'm
interested in what people think about the idea, and if anyone is doing
anything like this already. Or just contact me directly.
jbdigriz
Received on Wed Apr 30 2003 - 12:57:00 BST