Relationship between rsf and this forum?

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

Some of you will recognize my name, but to others I will describe myself as a former regular poster on rsf, (now only ocassional) regular rsf reader, and provider of video tapings to EDEW.

I have noticed rsf going downhill for some time, both in volume and content quality. When i recently found out about this forum, it seems like there is a reason for that - familiar names have migrated here.

Has there been any discussion in american fencing circles about a organized migration? I have searched on this forum for threads about the relation between it and rsf, but have not found any. are there any threads that I have missed?

Don´t get me wrong - I like the appearance of this forum and all its functionality - but I would not like to see rsf go under. For one thing, I believe that fencing beginners will have a easier time finding a NG than a forum on a webpage. The Google backup is another factor.

Any thoughts on this topic?

Another thing: I posted a batch of video tapes containing Eurosport coverage of WC 2002 in Lissabon to Eric. I posted some notes on their content to rsf a few days ago.

Have nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[sabreur]

Hi Peter,

Good to hear from you. I hope your kid is doing well.

I stopped posting to rec.sport.fencing after deja.com became a spam factory. I have a google account now, but every time I post I get really obscene and annoying spam, so I quit.

The discussion here also comes and goes a bit.

Cheers, MR

[MikeHarm]

An unmoderated thread on usenet is worthless now ruined by idiots posting endless spam and viruses which make it dangerous and a pain to wade through. I think if it was switched over to a moderated format it might be a lot better and safer to use.

[neevel]

I've not noticed any substantial amount of spam showing up on r.s.f. when I access it through my ISP (CoreCom/Execpc)-- they must have a fairly effective spam-blocker system for their news server (they do for personal e-mail accounts). The problem of e-mail address mining by spammers does remain, however.

Additionally, for most internet users who got started after graphical web browsers became the norm (i.e., the overwhelming majority), this website probably is easier to find than r.s.f., since they tend not to be fully aware of Usenet (the limited, not always intuitive readers that come standard with browsers don't help). I just did a search for "fencing" on Google, and Fencing.net was the first link on the results list.

There was no formal decision by people to migrate en-masse-- it just happened on its own, bit by bit. Ultimately, I suspect usenet may wind up going the way of most other pre-web internet utilities, slipping quietly into disuse except by old-timers.

As has been noted, the discourse here does have the usual ebb and flow common to any online forum. The fact that there's a separate off-topic subforum does help keep things a little more focused (as does the fact that folks wanting to play FlameWarrior have a purpose-built arena at Fencingsucks.com). And with Classical/Historical Fencing more securely established as its own enterprise with its own forums, that whole battlefront has settled down from what it used to be.

-Dave

[mfp]

Originally posted by neevel

Additionally, for most internet users who got started after graphical web browsers became the norm (i.e., the overwhelming majority), this website probably is easier to find than r.s.f., since they tend not to be fully aware of Usenet (the limited, not always intuitive readers that come standard with browsers don't help).

Internet users who started after graphical web browsers became the norm can easily use Google's Usenet groups interface without even realizing they're using a newsreader. They don't need to mess with the command line newsreaders (readnews, rn, trn, etc), or the less than satisfying newsgroup reader in Netscape, or (horrors) MS Outlook's news reader interface to see Usenet content.

Here's a link to the Google news interface for those who haven't seen it:

http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&...ncing&start=25

The Google groups service also does a reasonable job of keeping spam out of your google eyed view of the Usenet groups.

Yes, the google/dejanews Usenet archives are fantastic for research purposes. [Last month I was contacted by someone about something I posted to a Usenet technical group back in 1989]. It's too bad the searchable news archive on google has become less useful as people migrate away from the Usenet model

While I have been reading Usenet news since the days of readnews, net.* groups and 1200 baud uucp conections (~1982), I haven't posted anything to a Usenet group in many years. The reasons?

While google has a decent web interface and has reduced the problem of spam in the groups themselves, Usenet still suffers from other drawbacks:

1) email address harvesting by spammers

2) delays in receiving posts and the resulting out of sequence message confusion

And the biggest issue:

3) A stodgy newsgroup layout.

While you can kill or ignore threads in rec.sport.fencing based on certain criteria, that's still a somewhat manual process to setup and keep current. On boards like fencing.net, SCA and historical fencing types, etc, can post to subsections that others can happily ignore. If (for example) most of the content that appears in the "Water Cooler" section of this site appeared in a Usenet group, I'd immediately unsubscribe from the group.

So in summary, it's not really a User Interface issue that will doom certain Usenet groups, but rather more a combination of their inflexible heirarcy along with a lack of a moderator/webmaster type to help keep things in their proper place.

[damianip]

Hi Peter,

Welcome. First, a sincere thanks for supplying us with great videos these past years. Second, I hope Thomas is doing well. My thoughts are with you and your family.

I think the reason that so many folks have fled from RSF is the SPAM and the flame wars.

Fencing.net,being moderated by Craig, is a bit more structured, polite and on target. Digressive discussions get moved to different categories of discussion and flame wars are generally snuffed out before they get out of hand (again, thanks, Craig).

I like it here, although, at times, I miss the commentaries of some of the more regular participants at RSF. Maybe we can get them to stop in here.

Paolo