frederick ploegman wrote:
>
> "Dick Heckman" > wrote
> in message
>
...
>> Joe Sallustio wrote:
>>> On Dec 27, 9:55 pm, jim
>>> > wrote:
>>>> On Dec 27, 10:45 pm,
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Exactly, People have learned how to do
>>>>> searches. I assume that is the
>>>>> reason also. It's very rare a "new"
>>>>> question is posted and just as rare that a
>>>>> "new" answer will be given. Bob
>>>>> On Dec 27, 5:41 pm,
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> On Dec 20, 4:46 am, Joe Sallustio
>>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>>> On Dec 19, 6:25 pm, Dick Heckman
>>>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>>>> It seems that there is much less activity
>>>>>>>> here lately. Are folks moving
>>>>>>>> elsewhere?
>>>>>>>> dick
>>>>>>> This is the original winemaking newsgroup,
>>>>>>> it's been around for close
>>>>>>> to 15 years. To be honest, it's not only
>>>>>>> spawned a lot of other groups but most
>>>>>>> questions have been asked and answered
>>>>>>> many times. The groups was much more
>>>>>>> active years ago, but that is where a lot
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> questions got answered. I might be
>>>>>>> willing to bet there are close to a
>>>>>>> thousand posts on cleaning/ removing
>>>>>>> labels from bottles for
>>>>>>> example. There really aren't that many
>>>>>>> ways to do that and I can guarantee all of
>>>>>>> them have already been explored here. I'm
>>>>>>> not saying it's outlived it's usefulness,
>>>>>>> just that there are
>>>>>>> other groups out there now answering all
>>>>>>> these questions, again. So
>>>>>>> 'dilution' is occurring... 
>>>>>>> Joe
>>>>>> I agree with Joe.
>>>>>> You can search almost any wine making
>>>>>> question within this group and you will
>>>>>> find pages of relative info. I search first
>>>>>> and if I don't find the info/help I need,
>>>>>> then I will post a question. Why post if
>>>>>> the info you need has been discussed
>>>>>> multiple times. I think some of the folks
>>>>>> that have been around this site for awhile
>>>>>> probably get tired of the same old
>>>>>> questions all the time. That said, this is
>>>>>> a great group and a wealth of information
>>>>>> and if you don't like to search and would
>>>>>> rather post questions, I bet you will still
>>>>>> get some discussion. Happy Holidays! Jesse
>>>> I kind of agree and kind of don't.
>>>>
>>>> Many people use the news-reader portion of
>>>> outlook express. Unless their newsgroup
>>>> provider has unlimited retention and was
>>>> there before the start of this wine-making
>>>> group they wouldn't be able to find the
>>>> messages in their news-client. They might
>>>> not realise (as I didn't till the middle of
>>>> this year) that they could search the entire
>>>> (I
>>>> think) archive on Google. Also, different
>>>> practices and materials and equipment arises
>>>> from time to time, so it is on occasion worth
>>>> revisiting.
>>>>
>>>> I agree in general though - Hide quoted
>>>> text -
>>>>
>>>> - Show quoted text -
>>>
>>> Oh yeah, you can get the original posts from
>>> when they started the group in Usenet back in
>>> 1993 on Google's archives. I probably have at
>>> least 50 books on wine and winemaking but
>>> probably learned more here
>>> on this group. You can never beat first hand
>>> experience. Google is amazing, you can read
>>> 100 year old winemaking books now if you want
>>> to...
>>>
>>> Joe
>>>
>>
>> I've just noticed that in the last year the
>> post volume seemed to drop
>> pretty drastically. I've been lurking most of
>> the time for quite a few
>> years and copying posts that I found valuable.
>> I'm not all that computer
>> literate and never thought to search google. I
>> just like to see what folks are thinking about
>> wine and winemaking from time to time. I've
>> made fruit wines when the fruit was available
>> and I felt like it for about 30
>> yrs. I've never worried about recipes etc
>> other than making sure I had a reasonable SG at
>> start and a decent wine yeast. I've never had a
>> real failure.
>>
>> I've planted a few vines now and in a couple of
>> years maybe I'll have some
>> grape wines. The frost in the Southeast last
>> spring knocked my vines in a cocked hat and I'm
>> almost starting over.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Dick
>
> It's the newbies that keep this group going.
> All too often lately,
> they are being told to "go get googled". Some
> interpret this as the equivalent of "go get
> F***** ", and they take their questions
> to friendlier places. I, for one, would like to
> see the use of
> google as an answer be outlawed in this group !!
> (personal opinion of one grouchy old fart)
I AGREE 100%
One of the nice things about this news group is
that there are those of us out here will answer
questions - even though it has been asked many
times before. I hope we NEVER become like some
of the other newsgroups with answers like "Read
the FAQs" or "Google it". Sometimes the answer
to an old question can be such that it leads to
new understandings or brings up issues that a
plain "Search Google" does not reveal. For those
who find it irritating to see repeated questions
the answer is simple - just don't read them or
reply.