🚀 go-pugleaf

On May 18, 6:36 pm, Tim May <timc...@removethis.got.net> wrote:
> In article <33q3i.172$d%2....@newsfe06.lga>, M.Safier
>
> <msaf...@charter.net> wrote:
> > This is a typical snobbish putdown by the
> > know-all-there-is-to-know-about-food-and-everything-else and
> > oh-so-judgmental Arnie....ignore it--- Now Meg knew a lot and was modest
> > about it...but A. drove her off-she was most likely wise to leave...hmmmm,
> > maybe I should sub to ba.food? Or is he driving those folks off too?
> > Marilyn
>
> Knowing Meg--online only--I think it's way too big a leap to say that
> Meg was "driven off" of any particular newsgroup. She no longer posts
> to ba.food, even though she had been doing so for at least several
> months (maybe even a year, I don't know the stats) after moving from
> the Bay Area to the LA area.
>
> She didn't seem to be the type to be "driven off" by anybody.
>
> She may be wrapped-up in other things, or just moving on from the old
> habit of posting to food groups, whatever.
>
> Arnie posts to ba.food, too, and not just as cross-posts from la.eats.
> I don't see anyone talking about "leaving."
>
> However, la.eats is indeed a very dead group. But almost certainly not
> because of Arnie. There just aren't many contributors--haven't been for
> many years--and the group seems to have fallen below critical mass.
> Lots of possible reasons. For one thing, the generation younger than
> about 35 seems to have little idea that Usenet even exists....if they
> cite a newsgroup, they usually call it a "Google Group" (I've even had
> numbskulls e-mail to me saying they have filed a complaint with Google
> over something I wrote on "Google Groups"!).
>
> For another thing, the rise of Web-based review sites, such as Yelp.com
> and Chow.com. I usually go to them when thinking about a restaurant to
> try in some particular town. Much better than asking a question in
> ba.food and getting a few semi-on-topic replies...or asking in la.eats
> and getting zero replies (because of the critical mass issue). (Plus
> the obligatory comment from Arnie along the lines of "Sweet cheeks,
> when did Santa Monica become part of L.A.? This is "la.eats," not
> "santa-monica.eats! Go create your own group on one of the internets."
>
> Ba.food seems to limp along because some people seem to know each
> other, some people like to have a place to express their opinions about
> restaurant trends, paper bags vs. plastic, and so on.
>
> This knowledge of other posters is almost completely absent on Yelp and
> Chow, by the way, inasmuch as most of the reviewers have "handles"
> along the lines of "tacogirl139" and "PacManDudarino." Hard to
> establish _any_ sense of community. For example, I know you live in
> southern Oregon and once lived in LA....I don't know a thing about
> "tacogirl139," nor do I want to. Still, looking at Yelp and typing in
> the name of a town, like "Manhattan Beach" (ObArnie: "Sweet
> cheeks...."), and the name of a restaurant, I can quickly scan the 25
> or 31 comments, etc., and get some idea of what to expect.
>
> The other problem is that some areas--the major foodie cities--are
> well-covered on Yelp and Chow, but small towns are bereft of entries.
> It's be interesting for you to tell us what you find when you enter
> your own Oregon town into Yelp or Chow and see what people have
> written.
>
> Of course, Usenet is even worse for small towns, with nary a posting
> even in the Usenet archives (excuse me, the "Google Groups search
> engine") for tens of thousands of small towns and the restaurants
> therein.
>
> --Tim May

Many of my online buddies believe Usenet is dead.  I fear that it is
well on its way.

Rizzo