-=> Quoting Maurice Kinal to Nancy Backus on 12-14-05  06:51 <=-   
      
    NB> The Genealogy echoes were similar...  The main one GENEALOGY got so    
    NB> big and unwieldy that many other splintered echoes were formed,   
      
    MK> That can happen.  I've noticed that same pattern in other successful   
    MK> echoes.  Usually the splinters are more refined then whatever echo   
    MK> spawned them, and some become more regional based simply because of   
    MK> language differences.  It can be a healthy thing for sure.  Not always   
    MK> but for the mostpart it is a sign of health.   
       
   At least it was, when it happened.  As attendance died down, first the   
   splintered-off echoes began to lose critical mass, and discussion then   
   was whether or not to fold them into each other, or back into the main   
   echo...  Which also soon became more of a moot point as we lost a number   
   of key posters and organizers, some to death and some to the Internet...   
      
    NB> Of course, it DOES depend on what one's interests may be...  :)   
      
    MK> Or what one feels comfortable posting about.  There are things that   
    MK> interest me that I have absolutely very little knowledge about.    
    MK> Geneology is a good example.  I've never posted there but have followed   
    MK> and read posts there in the past.  Not lately but I don't get that many   
    MK> echoes at the moment.      
      
   There's not much there any more, sadly.   :(  Even more sadly, for me,   
   as that was what got me into the bbs'ing in the first place.   This is   
   one way that using the message packets is helpful, as I can keep these   
   echoes tagged and thus lurk without any extra effort on my part.   
      
   I have to admit that the only reason I still have the genealogy echoes   
   tagged is in the hopes that something might* someday happen again...   
   they really are pretty dead.  As I mentioned to Dan, they really did   
   require a fairly hefty critical mass to function, and ended up losing   
   it.  From what I can see, the genealogy newsgroups, especially most of   
   the specialty ones likewise succumbed, only a few years later... the   
   Internet's less community-oriented makeup made it even harder to keep a   
   critical mass.  I read some of what's left via RIME gating to my main   
   bbs, but I haven't really been able to take part in them.   
      
   ttyl       neb   
      
   ... I hit my CTRL key and I'm still not in control.   
      
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