[boc-l] It's time for goodbyes

[Ben Cohen]

> Just to clarify, I wasn't suggesting that you were stopping the list because
> of social media. It was more of a general statement. Because, let's face it,
> without social networks, there likely would be a lot more mailing lists still
> around.

Oh, and I wasn't really taking it as such - no worries.

On the other hand, there being a lot more mailing lists around wouldn't
necessarily mean that any of them would have signfiicantly longer life-spans.

> People have just moved on to more technologically advanced methods of
> conversation. Not much we can do about it.

*shrug* ... I'm used to being very "old school". By nature, I'm very
technically proficient (I've literally been around computers my entire life),
but I'm also generally a bit of a "late adopter" when it comes to new stuff.

Or, to paraphrase (badly) the meme I saw:

- People who don't know computers: "Yes, it's great. My new refrigerator
tracks how much stuff is in it and will build a shopping list for me and then
send it to the store."
- People who know computers well: "The most advanced piece of technology I
have is my printer and I keep a shotgun handy in case it starts acting
suspiciously."

> I get it. But why have conversations died down? You said it yourself, there
> are only 50 or so folks left on here. There used to be more, weren't there?
> Do you think they lost interest in BOC or HW? Some, possibly. All? Doubtful.
> There are many reasons to leave a list, and I'm not saying everyone did
> this, but I suspect many just found other places to chat.

Well - I will say that our "attrition" rate, over the duration of the list,
was *EXTREMELY* low. Most people who found their way here tended to stay -
barring some things like email address changes and such. The recent "mass
unsubscription" event was entirely on MS and outlook.com that just blanketed
the list with "nope, no one here by that name" responses, blowing a gaping
hole in the membership list.

Honestly, I think it's more to do with the primary topic of the list. Yeah,
BOC *finally* released an actual studio album, but it'd been so long, I'm not
sure anyone really cared. I can't speak so much for the HW side of things, but
I strongly suspect it's similar. So... if there's not anything new to talk
about, then ... there's not anything new to talk about.

> I remember my surprise when I first joined BOC-L and realized Al was a
> member haha. It was cool having those interactions with him.

Heh... you think *you* were surprised? I remember when I got the moderator
notification of a new subscriber, saw the name and proceeded to go "No fucking
way!!! This is AWESOME!!!"

> > Yep, that's right... I was snubbed by Eric Bloom. Don't believe anyone
> > else noticed (or cared), but I still think it was incredibly petty of him. :D
> 
> Wow. Yeah, that was petty :(

>From some things I'd heard prior to going there, I wasn't especially
surprised. I already knew he hated the list's existence with a *passion"
because we disrupted the "official story" and we weren't all that difficult to
find.

> Can't remember when it was exactly... probably early 2000's, in a venue near
> Marseilles (in France).

Yeah, back when they were "On Tour - Forever".

Ben