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G4EBT > PACKET 21.08.05 21:58l 164 Lines 7233 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : DB0491G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: What do we want to see on pkt?
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Sent: 050821/1948Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:63247 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:DB0491G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : PACKET@WW
Dick, VK3ABK, wrote:
>What kind of bulletins do we want to see on packet?
The unique feature of packet which sets it apart from internet newsgroups
(as well as the fact that you need a ham radio licence) is its eclectic
range of topics. People post bulls on wide-ranging topics which interest
them, and which they hope might be of interest to others. Lose that, and
packet is sunk.
If others aren't interested, the topic fizzles out. If they are, the
thread often evolves to an extent that it bears no relationship to the
initial bulletin which acted as the catalyst, thus stimulating further
activity.
Activity begets activity. Anyone or anything that inhibits the posting of
any bulletin on any topic is just another nail in the coffin lid of
packet.
Rather than a few active users "hogging the limelight", I'd like to see
more people popping their heads above the parapet to post more bulletins,
on more topics, and feeling less inhibited by the belligerence of those
who try to shut them up, belittle them, or pick fault with their grammar.
People need to recognise the limitations of a text mode - no eye contact,
no voice intonation, no opportunity to interject, no spontaneity etc. Some
get far too uptight about it. It's trivia - ephemera. How much will it
matter a week from now, let alone a year from now. It won't. It isn't
worth getting steamed up about.
Realistically, nothing will change. If they take exception to something
someone has said, people who ought to get out more will still rattle
away furiously at the keyboard as though they're sat on a pineapple.
BBSs will continue to close due to lack of use and lack of users, with
increased reliance on internet forwarding to a point at which packet
"radio" will become, (already has?) "virtual" packet radio, held together
by fly-by-wire internet links.
In other words, just an unmoderated internet newsgroup by any other name,
with the remnants of the radio infrastructure running a thousand times
slower than broadband.
It's sad, but amateur radio in general, and packet in particular is
yesterday's news. People think there's a magic silver bullet which will
re-ignite interest in the hobby, or rejuvenate packet. There isn't.
In the UK, over the last four years or so, thousands have come into the
hobby via the Foundation Licence, including bright kids as young as 7,
enabling them to use 10 Watts on LF/HF/VHF.
This has created an illusion that the hobby is on the up and up, but the
acid test isn't how many licences are issued - it's how many amateurs are
active. Answer - not many.
It's very telling that not a single one of those UK foundation licensees
has put out a single bulletin on packet. (Except perhaps the odd one who
holds another type of licence). It's an old mans' game for the most part.
Best enjoy it while we can and to encourage users, rather than deter them
from posting bulletins.
My non amateur radio interests are:
Etymology - particularly the development of the English language
Human rights
Ecology
Geography
Criminal and civil law
Belief and value systems and ethics
Economic, social and military history
Religion
Politics
Travel.
Some of those topics don't sit well with some on packet, but participation
in them isn't compulsory. Of the last 350 bulls I've put out, they range
across 52 topics - an average of about bulls 7 per topic.
I've no intention of narrowing down the range of topics, and neither do
I have any intention of putting out any more radio related bulletins.
I'm not interested in DX or contests or QSL card collecting.
Presently, I'm researching two topics I find interesting.
Firstly:
The derivation of the Australian accent and the development of Australian
English ("strine") after the foundation of the British colony of NSW in
1788.
I find it intriguing that (at least to an outsider) despite the vastness
of Australia, there is little regional variation in accent from one part
to another. In contrast, in the UK people only ten miles apart often speak
with a different accent, and some regional accents and colloquialisms are
so different that they're almost unintelligible to an outsider.
In contrast, I'd wager that to a an outsider, there'll be little
discernable difference between the accent of someone from Perth
(the most remote city in the world) and, say, someone from Sidney.
Most linguists consider that there are three main varieties of Australian
English: "Broad", "General" and "Cultivated" - these three main varieties
being part of a continuum and are based on variations in accent. They
often, but not always, reflect the social class and/or educational
background of the speaker rather than the geographical area.
Secondly, the history of the Pilgrim Fathers, which originated in a tiny
village near to where I once lived, called Scrooby in Nottinghamshire.
From there, William Bradford - an orphan from nearby Austerfield, who
was the village postmaster and leader of an extreme sect known as "The
Separatists" (an outlawed breakaway Puritan group who separated from the
Church of England), set sail to America in the Mayflower in 1620.
Of the 102 who set sail on that perilous journey lasting several weeks,
only one died, and one was born. They landed far from where they'd
intended, and founded the Plymouth Colony in New England.
To me, it's fascinating that the attitudes to sex, God and the Bible of
the Scrooby village postmaster and his band of settlers would become (as
"The Times" puts it), "the cultural DNA of the United States", where it's
said that twice as many people believe in the devil as in Darwin's theory
of evolution. Spooky to think that 2005 might just as well be 1620!
The New York Times describes the President as a "messianic Calvinist".
Again, it's intriguing to think that the character of the most powerful
(some might say most dangerous) man on earth today has a link back to
those fanatics who fled these shores in 1620. (I wonder if the few hundred
inhabitants of Scrooby today ever think about that?).
Both of the above topics would perhaps raise some limited interest on
packet, but from past experience, both would provoke adverse reactions
and soon descend into a slanging match if I put out bulletins on them.
I'm impervious to that, but it's a tiresome distraction which I can do
without, so why bother.
There are internet forums on all these topics, and more and more, I find
myself saying "will this sit better on packet than in an appropriate
internet forum"?
Too often, I know that I'll get a more informed and sensible response on
internet than on packet, but at least those on packet who find non-radio
related bulletins offensive on the eye can take heart. (Just don't expect
the radio-related ones to increase though).
It isn't the medium of packet that's the issue - it's the mix of people.
On internet, it will be people of all ages and both sexes. On packet -
mainly old, mainly male, too often grumpy and in a rut as deep as a grave.
On that happy note, teatime beckons!
73 - David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
QTH: Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 20:44 on 2005-Aug-21
Message sent using WinPack-Telnet V6.70
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