Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 08-24-18 00:46 <=-

See, ours is much more open-ended and without
an overarching goal - our goals are ephemeral;
problem is that without a critical mass, there's
going to be nobody to answer the occasional
questions that arise.

So far, we appear to be keeping up a sufficient critical mass... ;) Meanwhile, GENEALOGY is no more, since the critical mass moved to the Internet, and not enough were left behind to keep things going here...

Did it have a coffee klatsch or memories phase
before it shuffled off this mortal coil?

Not really... those that were left stayed on topic, but there were no
more cousins around to answer... a few newbies were given pointers as to
where to look for their research, but it wasn't long before there just
weren't any more messages... genealogy just tends to be more specific
than most other topics, when you come down to it...

newbies to the field needed to learn where and how to look... There
was a feeling of family there, too, so there were some messages that
were more personal than genealogical from time to time...

We could do that sort of thing here, I guess.

Which... the teaching newbies....? or the allowing personal touches
that add to our feeling of family... ;)

The former. We already have a bit of feeling of
family, don't we - I hope so, anyhow.

I think so, anyway... ;) But I've seen a fair bit of teaching newbies
as well, when the need arises... :)

but with a smaller group, the focus is more likely to stray more...
not necessarily a bad thing...

That's my more comfortable condition, anyway,
and I hope it's agreeable to the majority here.

It appears to be.... :)

Got to keep up appearances despite this.

I suppose so... :)

They were useful to some subset, no doubt... Like the TAGLINES echo, devoted just to tags... ;)

I suppose, though the need diminishes as the
Internet fills in almost all its gaps, making
us more and more a purely social thing.

Nothing wrong with being a social thing... I'd not say it's purely
social, as it does have a focus, more or less... ;)

The moderator is more food obsessed than the
general public, so the focus will remain focused
for the foreseeable future.

Yup. :)

You'd think. There's a balance between not spreading germs and encouraging the germs to evolve into being more resistant...

The most effective way to kill germs, they now
say, is to squash them. So rinsing, with lots
of rubbing action, is important; antimicrobials
apparently less good for the purpose and you in
general.

Especially as the antimicrobials tend to just encourage the bugs to
evolve stronger..... ;0

The bugs also have an interest in surviving and
self-perpetuation, after all.

I suppose... and I suppose they probably serve some purpose besides
trying to kill us off.... (G)

Possibly people will get ideas for things for you to fix when they go shopping on Friday.

We shall see what we shall see. It is what it is.
Que sera sera. Heh.

[snicker]

ttyl neb

... Never try to out-stubborn a cat's person.

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