How can we help revitilize RRC?

[Ansley]

Noticed some discussion of RRC lately on Facebook. Anyone have any good ideas on how to help revitalize and get more readership on RRC. IMHO RRC is still a very valuable resource, and still in some cases better than any webpage or social media group.

I also noticed that only other Usenet newsgroup that I still read now has an accompanying Facebook group, that group is rec.arts.disney.parks. While I'ver never been too active on there, it is a very close-nit and longtime group that is still active and has gatherings as well. Do you think maybe someone should create a Rec.Roller-Coaster Facebook group to coincide with this group? Do you think that this group still has great value and do you have any ideas on how to attract former and new readers back to RRC?

Any other ideas and suggestions. After spending a lot of time on social media, mostly Facebook, the last 6 months during COVID I find myself increasingly frustrated and dismayed by the platform and the groups on it and would love nothing more than to see a resurgence of RRC.

Also, maybe we should post an update FAQ for the group, I know someone has a copy or we could retrieve it from old posts, update it, and repost it. Is there an official place where such a thing is kept?

Regards,
Ted

[Heather Kendrick]

Noticed some discussion of RRC lately on Facebook. Anyone have any good ideas
on how to help revitalize and get more readership on RRC. IMHO RRC is still a
very valuable resource, and still in some cases better than any webpage or
social media group.

This is actually the only newsgroup I still read with much interest. The only
other one I’m a long-timer on that still gets any posts at all is
rec.arts.comics.strips, but it’s lost all the interesting regulars and been
largely taken over by crossposting from another group so I don’t follow it
much anymore. And I’m a diehard; I was a fanatical, addicted Usenetter in
the 90s and basically the last person to give up on alt.devilbunnies, so it
takes a lot before I decide to jump ship.

The trouble is that what you need to sustain a group is a critical number of
active posters. I’m not sure what that number is, but I fear we’ve fallen
below it here. I’ve never been quite as reliable since I had to switch
Usenet clients and don’t like my new one very much, which is a bad reason
to give up but it’s just enough of a nudge in the wrong direction when the
current is already going that way that it’s been hard to remember to visit.
What does keep me coming back is Surf Dance Chris’s very helpful running
tally of closures and announcements.

The group always gets a bit quieter in the offseason, and this whole year
turned into an offseason for many people, me included. I chose not to go to
any parks this year, for the first time since 1998. But I think such a long
“offseason” combined with a dwindling number of active posters has been
hard on this group. One thing that used to sometimes spark conversation was
those threads of “this or that” – I forget who was responsible for
those but they were always fun. Perhaps we could try to get some sort of
structured discussion like that going again.

Anyway, I am still around, or at least I didn’t mean to leave.

[Richard Bannister]

I'm still here. I'm just not sure there's all that much to say.

Maybe if all of us commit to trying to start a thread every time we see something interesting?

I'll start with one now...

-
www.retrogamesformac.com

[Surf Dance Chris]

I’ve also noticed RRC talk in facebook recently. The appeal of RRC to me is the lack of moderation. Facebook groups and other platforms are typically very heavily moderated, and you can be removed or scolded for having different opinions than the moderators. I’ve left some groups because of over moderation. For example, I once made one short and mild negative comment about RMC converting too many wood coasters to steel on a steel coasters group and was scolded heavily. I decided to just leave the group than have to deal with that sort of thing. In RRC, you know you’ll get true honest opinions vs other platforms where people will only wrote what the moderator likes to hear (or true opinions are deleted).

I’m glad you enjoy the announcements and closings threads, I just wish more people would add to them when they hear news.

The This Or That threads were mostly started by me, I think the last few I did didn’t get much response. I’d love to see someone start some new ones.

It’s hard to get people to come over to RRC when Facebook and other platforms offer images and more members, generally speaking. But moderation has frustrated people in some groups and is certainly the appeal of RRC at his point.
Also, I suspect RRC still has some regular lurkers, I wonder how to help convince them to post or respond? Hopefully this is a start.

[Heather Kendrick]

Post by Surf Dance Chris
It’s hard to get people to come over to RRC when Facebook and other
platforms offer images and more members, generally speaking.

That’s very true, and people are already there keeping in touch with family
and so on so it requires no special effort to follow. However, social media
platforms are terrible for actual discussion, and actively hostile to
chronological reading habits. My admittedly snobbish opinion is that their
popularity for hosting groups is at least partly due to people not knowing
any better because they weren’t using the Internet in the days of sensibly
threaded discussions. If they had been, surely they would realize how awful
the Facebook version of a discussion group really is. So I tell myself.

[Dave Althoff, Jr.]

Heather Kendrick <***@ameritech.net> wrote:
: On Oct 8, 2020, Surf Dance Chris wrote
: (in article<d91a3b23-9417-430d-9c86-***@googlegroups.com>):
:
: >
: > It?s hard to get people to come over to RRC when Facebook and other
: > platforms offer images and more members, generally speaking.
: That?s very true, and people are already there keeping in touch with family
: and so on so it requires no special effort to follow. However, social media
: platforms are terrible for actual discussion, and actively hostile to
: chronological reading habits. My admittedly snobbish opinion is that their
: popularity for hosting groups is at least partly due to people not knowing
: any better because they weren?t using the Internet in the days of sensibly
: threaded discussions. If they had been, surely they would realize how awful
: the Facebook version of a discussion group really is. So I tell myself.

Facebook groups in particular are especially awful. Setting aside the
chronology problem, and even the problem of trying to read threaded content
in any meaningful way, the other major problem is that groups have
ownership, and ownership is tied into Failbook's privacy model. This means
that if you have a lot of like-minded friends you are going to end up
monitoring dozens of groups with overlapping membership and content...but
no one group includes *everybody* or *everything*.

I lost track of the number of times I saw the Velocicoaster annoucement a
few days ago.

If you think you are getting honest opinions on Usenet, you haven't been
reading Usenet long enough. There are people here who I can tell you are
very different in person than they are on r.r-c. But you are going to get
the usually-consistent opinion of that person as he presents himself on the
group.

As nice as the lack of moderation can be (but it's a double-edged sword; it
requires a certain level of civility or flame wars *will* erupt!) I think
the real key to r.r-c is the lack of *ownership* of the total group. That
and the fact that it is totally open to anyone both to participate and to
read. That makes it possible for r.r-c to be a much more comprehensive
community than you can find *anywhere* else.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.

[Surf Dance Chris]

I understand that there might not *always* be honest opinions here, but unlike a moderated forum, people can share their true opinions without fear of getting banned or comments deleted simply for not aligning themselves with the moderator’s opinions.

By the way, I still have my rrc button, maybe we should start wearing them to the parks to help “advertise” rrc!

[Surf Dance Chris]

Something that could help is getting the new google groups to work better! It only lets me read and not post on my phone. I have to use the iPad to have posting ability. (And yes, I’m signed in on my phone, too, but I don’t get the “reply” buttons there for some reason).

[Chris K-Man]

Post by Surf Dance Chris
Something that could help is getting the new google groups
to work better! It only lets me read and not post on my phone.
I have to use the iPad to have posting ability. (And yes, I’m signed
in on my phone, too, but I don’t get the “reply” buttons there for some
reason).

_______
I just replied to you, via my iPad.

I think it varies, with platform type and OS version.

I never do software updates, for example.

[Alan Conceicao]

Any other ideas and suggestions. After spending a lot of time on social media, mostly Facebook, the last 6 months during COVID I find myself increasingly frustrated and dismayed by the platform and the groups on it and would love nothing more than to see a resurgence of RRC.

There's a lot of people who treat social media as though it were the entirety of the internet. Without there being any way to improve the visual qualities of RRC (video/pictures especially) I don't think there's any way to draw in newer demographics who are finding their needs met via Instagram or Reddit. I think that's OK: I'd rather see "the kids" make their own stuff rather than be asked to maintain existing structures which haven't been built for their needs or desires. Outside of Old Coaster Guy Town like here or C-Buzz or the various Facebook groups like the "Connoisseurs" groups there's entire groups being established for demographics we never expanded like women (G-Force on Instagram).

[Surf Dance Chris]

Ted, I think you actually helped revitalize RRC in a small way by posting this. We need to keep it going! Maybe some others who lurk will come back and post/comment more.

[Ansley]

Post by Surf Dance Chris
Ted, I think you actually helped revitalize RRC in a small way by posting this. We need to keep it going! Maybe some others who lurk will come back and post/comment more.

Well, despite my post it's been a couple of weeks since I checked the newsgroup, sometimes when I get on the computer I simply forget to come here! Maybe I'll start putting up small TRs again. I do like reading others' trip reports when I see them. I've only visited 6 parks this year, and the only large park was HersheyPark. However taking my 2 Sons to SFGAdv this Wednesday, YES, they are open Wednesday from 5-10PM. This despite the fact we live 5 hours away now. My youngest has been bugging me because we haven'tt been there in 3 seasons. Plus, he wanted it for his birthday. I don't expect to ride much, if anything. My problem is I've my weight has really ballooned during COVID and all of a sudden instead of not fitting one 1 out of 40 coasters I really don't fit on the majority now! Sad, I need to get in shape. My boys will enjoy the day, and I might try getting on Kingda Ka.

Ted

[[e-mail]]

Post by Surf Dance Chris
Ted, I think you actually helped revitalize RRC in a small way by posting this. We need to keep it going! Maybe some others who lurk will come back and post/comment more.

Well, despite my post it's been a couple of weeks since I checked the newsgroup, sometimes when I get on the computer I simply forget to come here! Maybe I'll start putting up small TRs again. I do like reading others' trip reports when I see them. I've only visited 6 parks this year, and the only large park was HersheyPark. However taking my 2 Sons to SFGAdv this Wednesday, YES, they are open Wednesday from 5-10PM. This despite the fact we live 5 hours away now. My youngest has been bugging me because we haven'tt been there in 3 seasons. Plus, he wanted it for his birthday. I don't expect to ride much, if anything. My problem is I've my weight has really ballooned during COVID and all of a sudden instead of not fitting one 1 out of 40 coasters I really don't fit on the majority now! Sad, I need to get in shape. My boys will enjoy the day, and I might try getting on Kingda Ka.
Ted

Any more ideas? Also, I wonder whatever happened to Robert/nogodforme/skiguy. His posts always resulted in a lot of discussion. When he stopped posting, activity in this group went down a lot.

[Alan Conceicao]

QAnon people won't even post on USENET in spite of it being the one place on the whole of the internet that is completely unmoderated and from which they cannot be banned.

It's just disconnected from the social media hubs most people use and as such you can find all the old RRCers arguing amongst one another on Facebook.

Post by ***@aol.com

Post by Surf Dance Chris
Ted, I think you actually helped revitalize RRC in a small way by posting this. We need to keep it going! Maybe some others who lurk will come back and post/comment more.

Well, despite my post it's been a couple of weeks since I checked the newsgroup, sometimes when I get on the computer I simply forget to come here! Maybe I'll start putting up small TRs again. I do like reading others' trip reports when I see them. I've only visited 6 parks this year, and the only large park was HersheyPark. However taking my 2 Sons to SFGAdv this Wednesday, YES, they are open Wednesday from 5-10PM. This despite the fact we live 5 hours away now. My youngest has been bugging me because we haven'tt been there in 3 seasons. Plus, he wanted it for his birthday. I don't expect to ride much, if anything. My problem is I've my weight has really ballooned during COVID and all of a sudden instead of not fitting one 1 out of 40 coasters I really don't fit on the majority now! Sad, I need to get in shape. My boys will enjoy the day, and I might try getting on Kingda Ka.
Ted

Any more ideas? Also, I wonder whatever happened to Robert/nogodforme/skiguy. His posts always resulted in a lot of discussion. When he stopped posting, activity in this group went down a lot.

[Ansley]

I like what rec.arts.disney.parks did, they have a facebook group too. Longtime posters (members?) post on Facebook, but a bunch still post on RADP, like TRs and other stuff. They have been thriving longer than RRC, it's the only other usenet group I still check. I like their Facebook group!

Regards,
Ted

[Richard Bannister]

I like what rec.arts.disney.parks did, they have a facebook group too. Longtime posters (members?) post on Facebook, but a bunch still post on RADP, like TRs and other stuff. They have been thriving longer than RRC, it's the only other usenet group I still check. I like their Facebook group!

We might want to think about revitalizing after the world goes back to normal – a lot of the content in enthusiast circles is trip related, and that's not happening right now.

Just a thought.

-
www.retrogamesformac.com

[Alan Conceicao]

Post by Richard Bannister

I like what rec.arts.disney.parks did, they have a facebook group too. Longtime posters (members?) post on Facebook, but a bunch still post on RADP, like TRs and other stuff. They have been thriving longer than RRC, it's the only other usenet group I still check. I like their Facebook group!

We might want to think about revitalizing after the world goes back to normal – a lot of the content in enthusiast circles is trip related, and that's not happening right now.
Just a thought.

My .02 -

-If you're an old school RRCer, you can interact with the other old RRC people on Facebook already through a variety of Facebook groups. Not sure how/why an RRC group would be more successful but I suppose it's possible.

-I'll be honest: I have little desire to communicate with a lot of those people. I haven't seen some of those people in real life in around 20 years. The ones I see online....look, it was nice that a bunch of adults were reasonably nice to me when I was a kid or teenager. At least I guess I wasn't molested? Many of them just keep posting shit in relation to their old hobby friends and aren't involved in it any more. There's a whole new slate of enthusiasts on places like Reddit and Instagram having new and more interesting conversations than the same old shit about how bad some defunct coaster 20 years ago was or whether or not the Coney Island Cyclone is RUINEDDDDDDDD~! between middle aged dollar store managers/call center employees that haven't visited 5 unique parks in the last decade. It looks like a bunch of Gen Xers who let their real life relationships atrophy to the point where their socialization is talking about the good ol' days of 1998. That's embarassing "peaked in high school crap". I don't care what Mark McKenzie thinks about theme park in 2021.

-It's still Facebook instead of really being here. I guess this is more conducive to reading trip reports, but again, many of the old RRC faithful don't do this hobby any more and it's more about discussing why their marriages failed or endorsing absurd QAnon related political conspiracies.

[[e-mail]]

Ted, have you thought of creating a Facebook group for rrc? Maybe it’ll help get people to post more here? I think it might just have everyone post in the rrc fb group then though.

Richard, maybe. Though I find that TRs don’t usually get many or any responses in those threads. That’s why I’ve mostly stopped writing them. Or maybe mine just stink lol.

Alan, I don’t think the idea of revitalizing rrc necessarily means bringing all the former members/posters of the past back to rrc. Just the fact that this board is unmoderated, so no need to always pretend like you agree with whatever the admins think. That’s the trouble with Facebook groups and groups pretty much anywhere else. Everyone’s got to be careful to not disagree with the admins. It would be great to see some new regulars here. And if members of the past want to rejoin, that would be great, too.

[Alan Conceicao]

Post by ***@aol.com
Alan, I don’t think the idea of revitalizing rrc necessarily means bringing all the former members/posters of the past back to rrc. Just the fact that this board is unmoderated, so no need to always pretend like you agree with whatever the admins think. That’s the trouble with Facebook groups and groups pretty much anywhere else. Everyone’s got to be careful to not disagree with the admins. It would be great to see some new regulars here. And if members of the past want to rejoin, that would be great, too.

Why would someone who is a 20 year old college undergrad join the rec.roller-coaster "unmoderated" facebook forum? To get in flame wars with "Jayson Berkit" when that guy peddles some completely insane shit about George Soros lying about black IQs because it permits him to traffick children for adrenachrome for his cabal of lizard man satanist witches? I'm not even being sarcastic.

The draw is for the old crowd, and the younger members of the in crowd from the mid-late 90s are in or approaching their 50s. Which is also why Facebook is such an appealing platform to them, while most younger people have decided to walk away from their uncle's racist 4chan memes to go to places like Reddit. RRC Memories or some shit like that as a Facebook group might be successful because there's a large enough base of people who want to live in the past via social media which I've already seen to make it viable. Frankly, I don't see any demand any more for an unmoderated group for that reason among younger people. Those Gen Xers ruined it by posting like edgelord teens.

[Heather Kendrick]

Post by Alan Conceicao
I don't see any demand any more for an unmoderated group for that reason
among younger people. Those Gen Xers ruined it by posting like edgelord teens.

FWIW I´m a Gen Xer and I don´t *think* I do any of the stuff that drives
Alan so crazy.

I do post on Reddit a little bit now and then. The roller coaster group there
is actually pretty civilized. I just really dislike certain things about
Reddit, mostly the upvoting/downvoting thing that is its bread and butter. I
tend to have some "unorthodox" views about roller coasters (mainly liking
unpopular ones) and I get timid about posting anything for fear of being
downvoted into oblivion.

[Rik P]

Post by Heather Kendrick
I do post on Reddit a little bit now and then. The roller coaster group there
is actually pretty civilized. I just really dislike certain things about
Reddit, mostly the upvoting/downvoting thing that is its bread and butter. I
tend to have some "unorthodox" views about roller coasters (mainly liking
unpopular ones) and I get timid about posting anything for fear of being
downvoted into oblivion.

I've found Reddit's r/rollercoasters pretty much fulfills my internet coaster needs. My MO is to visit the "new" page exclusively and look for interesting posts. I rarely vote or know how my (infrequent) posts are being voted on. There are a lot of image posts, but there are interesting questions now and then. I like how responses to my posts are deposited in an inbox, which makes it easy to respond.

I haven't run into the moderation, but I never participated in (posting or reading) the more controversial threads here, that I recall.

Anyway, I find it very hard to comfortably navigate r.r-c now that the new UI has been permanently adopted.

[Alan Conceicao]

I've found Reddit's r/rollercoasters pretty much fulfills my internet coaster needs. My MO is to visit the "new" page exclusively and look for interesting posts. I rarely vote or know how my (infrequent) posts are being voted on. There are a lot of image posts, but there are interesting questions now and then. I like how responses to my posts are deposited in an inbox, which makes it easy to respond.
I haven't run into the moderation, but I never participated in (posting or reading) the more controversial threads here, that I recall.

r/rollercoasters moderation would be a problem I guess if you wanted to spend your time trying to drive culture war about women/minorities/trans persons being inferior or promote content makers with histories of trying to have sex with underage girls. The bigger issue is the crowd on reddit is appreciably younger and I don't identify with them as much. I'm in that middle zone a lot of individuals have probably found themselves in where the old folks are still old enough to see some younger members as permakids and most of my peers in the hobby that I knew when I was younger are lapsed or moved on with their lives. On the upside, they've actually managed to cultivate a more safe space for women to participate and there's tons of women under 25 in coaster instagram/reddit. The kids did something right, unlike the Gen Xers.

Anyway, I find it very hard to comfortably navigate r.r-c now that the new UI has been permanently adopted.

The new UI sucks.

[SLC Headache]

Post by Heather Kendrick
I do post on Reddit a little bit now and then. The roller coaster group there
is actually pretty civilized. I just really dislike certain things about
Reddit, mostly the upvoting/downvoting thing that is its bread and butter. I
tend to have some "unorthodox" views about roller coasters (mainly liking
unpopular ones) and I get timid about posting anything for fear of being
downvoted into oblivion.
--
Heather, the Carousel Rabbit

In my experience on Reddit, liking unpopular coasters isn't nearly as downvoted as disliking popular coasters. I'm the guy who rags on Verbolten every chance I get, and it's about 50/50 whether the post gets upvoted, or downvoted by its fanboys.

The worst part of Reddit is that downvotes count against you. That, and old threads get automatically locked.

[Richard Bannister]

Post by SLC Headache
The worst part of Reddit is that downvotes count against you. That, and old threads get automatically locked.

For me the worst bit about Reddit is that the third picture of Cedar Point in a week will get 300+ upvotes, while a detailed and in-depth written trip report will be lucky to get 10. The whole TL:DR thing depresses me.

-
www.retrogamesformac.com

[Surf Dance Chris]

With Facebook and Instagram both down today, you’d think RRC would have more activity today!

[Heather Kendrick]

Richard, maybe. Though I find that TRs don´t usually get many or any
responses in those threads. That´s why I´ve mostly stopped writing

them.

Or maybe mine just stink lol.

I read all trip reports! I guess I need to reply to them more though.

I do like the Usenet style format the best. I don´t want popular stuff
sorted to the top or by some obscure algorithm, I just want everything in a
chronological list. I want things to be threaded. Unfortunately, the popular
modern platforms all abandon at least one of the two things I would like to
have in a discussion group. Alas! Nothing much to do about it.

[Dave Althoff, Jr.]

Alan Conceicao <***@gmail.com> wrote:
: QAnon people won't even post on USENET in spite of it being the one place
: on the whole of the internet that is completely unmoderated and from
: which they cannot be banned.
:
: It's just disconnected from the social media hubs most people use and as
: such you can find all the old RRCers arguing amongst one another on
: Facebook.

I don't know if that's particularly telling...that because USENET is so
"other" even the people for whom it would be an *ideal* gathering place
haven't gravitated to it...or if as a group they haven't figured out that
it still exists, or for that matter, even know it exists at all. USENET is
kind of the original "dark web" (there is no such thing, by the way...)
just because it is NOT part of the World Wide Web. And the technical
challenges of just getting here seem to be quite a barrier to entry.
Except, of course, for those of us who got here before the Web was really
a thing...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.

[Alan Conceicao]

Post by ***@aol.com
Any more ideas? Also, I wonder whatever happened to Robert/nogodforme/skiguy. His posts always resulted in a lot of discussion. When he stopped posting, activity in this group went down a lot.

BTW, the answer to this question is that Rob Viands went from what the folks on twitter might call "Extremely Online" to "Terminally Online". He spends all his time at tribalwar.com, a conspiracy theory forum where he's had a presence for over a decade. You can find threads like this over there:

http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=675532&page=21

This is a grown adult man with college age (or older!) children saying possibly the dumbest shit imaginable. He probably hasn't posted here because, you know, there's a pandemic and he's not travelling extensively for theme parks.

[[e-mail]]

So to those who still read/post in the group, why? What keeps you checking it despite the lack of interest or growth in the forum? If no one will likely return and no new members will ever join, what keeps you here?

[Richard Bannister]

Post by ***@aol.com
So to those who still read/post in the group, why? What keeps you checking it despite the lack of interest or growth in the forum? If no one will likely return and no new members will ever join, what keeps you here?

Alan's creativity with words!

-
www.retrogamesformac.com

[Heather Kendrick]

Post by Richard Bannister

Post by ***@aol.com
So to those who still read/post in the group, why? What keeps you checking
it despite the lack of interest or growth in the forum? If no one will
likely return and no new members will ever join, what keeps you here?

Alan's creativity with words!
-
www.retrogamesformac.com

I´ll second that. Honestly, Alan on a rant is one of the more entertaining
things on RRC even when I disagree.

[Heather Kendrick]

Post by ***@aol.com
Any more ideas? Also, I wonder whatever happened to Robert/nogodforme/skiguy.
His posts always resulted in a lot of discussion. When he stopped posting,
activity in this group went down a lot.

Honestly, I think there´s a lot of truth to that. I´ve noticed that a lot
of newsgroups are sustained partly by having at least one Newsgroup Crank.
Years ago the newsgroup I was most active in was rec.comics.strips, and it
petered out partly because when AOL killed its Usenet access, our Newsgroup
Crank disappeared. Everyone loved to hate his posts, and that added a lot of
life to the group. Likewise, I think Skiguy was kind of our Newsgroup Crank.
I still have a running joke with my husband whenever we eat a big salad for
dinner that "the guy on rec.roller-coaster would be so proud of us!" or
variations on that.

[Richard Bannister]

Post by Heather Kendrick
Honestly, I think there´s a lot of truth to that. I´ve noticed that a lot
of newsgroups are sustained partly by having at least one Newsgroup Crank.

I volunteer!

-
www.retrogamesformac.com

[Ansley]

I think Alan is overblowing the negative aspects that RRC had during the heydey, at most I'd say less than 10%, probably even lower, of people and posts were not welcome. If you're curious check our rec.arts.disney.parks, and check out the group on Facebook, RADP, it's private so they'd have to accept you but it a good bunch, they'll accept you. There is new blook on many of the rollercoaster groups I'm in on Facebook, a variety of young/old. Yes some of us older folks probably get a bit repetative at times, I'll leave the guilty nameless, but for the most part Facebook groups are ok except for the idiots and moderators at times.

Ted

[[e-mail]]

Haha “newsgroup crank”.

Heather, I forgot about his “big salad” recommendations until you mentioned it. When I think of “big salad”, I tend to think of it from Seinfeld.

I wonder if skiguy still lurks/reads this group.

Speaking of referencing things from the group, whenever someone misspells “millennium” by missing an n, I usually respond “Millennium is spelled with two n’s :-)” exactly the way the thread’s title back then was written. Even though the other person usually has no clue about the reference.

[Heather Kendrick]

Haha "newsgroup crank".
Heather, I forgot about his "big salad" recommendations until

you

mentioned it. When I think of "big salad", I tend to think of it

from

Seinfeld.

Yeah, he thought anyone could easily lose weight by just making their main
meal of the day be a big salad. That´s all there is to it apparently!

I remember the Millennium thread, although I wasn´t a very active newsgroup
participant in the days when it got started.

[Richard Bannister]

Post by ***@aol.com
Speaking of referencing things from the group, whenever someone misspells “millennium” by missing an n, I usually respond “Millennium is spelled with two n’s :-)” exactly the way the thread’s title back then was written. Even though the other person usually has no clue about the reference.

I feel bound to misspell millenium just to give you that opening.

-
www.retrogamesformac.com

[Alan Conceicao]

Post by Ansley
I think Alan is overblowing the negative aspects that RRC had during the heydey, at most I'd say less than 10%, probably even lower, of people and posts were not welcome.

It was Baby's First Internet Community for most of us, and in the case of the GenX crowd, at an exceptionally important time shortly after college when they were all getting their feet wet online. The 10% of complete shitty racist posts were enough to drive folks like Flaharty away, and then the drama that ensued when certain members began to have differences of opinion with other members (a consequence of actually getting to know each other or at least believing they did) literally tore the place asunder and sent folks packing to Coasterbuzz and Westcoaster.

Post by Ansley
If you're curious check our rec.arts.disney.parks, and check out the group on Facebook, RADP, it's private so they'd have to accept you but it a good bunch, they'll accept you. There is new blook on many of the rollercoaster groups I'm in on Facebook, a variety of young/old. Yes some of us older folks probably get a bit repetative at times, I'll leave the guilty nameless, but for the most part Facebook groups are ok except for the idiots and moderators at times.

The guy running the Connosieurs pages is a complete COVID denier, right? Also in general had some other wacky opinions he made sure to politicize. I mean plenty of people participate in the array of groups and that's fine. Not sure another group is going to add anything to the conversation unless it is expressly about looking at old posts about reminiscing when Rob Vaccaro had a bright future ahead of him and hadn't descended into being a con artist with a rap sheet a mile long.

[Dave Althoff, Jr.]

Ansley <***@usa.com> wrote:
: I think Alan is overblowing the negative aspects that RRC had during the
: heydey, at most I'd say less than 10%, probably even lower, of people and
: posts were not welcome.

I'll tend to agree with that. We had a pretty solid coacting community here
and as a group we did very well to not get sucked in by the twits, which
meant that the worst elements of the group rapidly got killfiled and either
got bored and left, or turned into productive net.citizens. Of all the
USENET groups I've seen, rec.roller-coaster was consistently the most civil
of the bunch. I think it's because a lot of us had managed to meet each
other in real life, and because the whole point of the group is to
facilitate discussion about all aspects of something that is supposed to be
a whole lot of FUN. So why shouldn't our discussion be likewise?

Now what's this new interface you guys are complaining about? tin 2.4.4
looks pretty much the same as every other version I have used (although I
really wish I could figure out how to get it to properly display those
8-bit characters a few of you insist on using. Qnza you and your curly
quotes!) Anyway, runs on any flavor of *ix, get it from tin.org, and it
looks like version 2.4.5 might actually fix the curly quote problem!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.

[Ansley]

Post by Dave Althoff, Jr.
: I think Alan is overblowing the negative aspects that RRC had during the
: heydey, at most I'd say less than 10%, probably even lower, of people and
: posts were not welcome.
I'll tend to agree with that. We had a pretty solid coacting community here
and as a group we did very well to not get sucked in by the twits, which
meant that the worst elements of the group rapidly got killfiled and either
got bored and left, or turned into productive net.citizens. Of all the
USENET groups I've seen, rec.roller-coaster was consistently the most civil
of the bunch. I think it's because a lot of us had managed to meet each
other in real life, and because the whole point of the group is to
facilitate discussion about all aspects of something that is supposed to be
a whole lot of FUN. So why shouldn't our discussion be likewise?
Now what's this new interface you guys are complaining about? tin 2.4.4
looks pretty much the same as every other version I have used (although I
really wish I could figure out how to get it to properly display those
8-bit characters a few of you insist on using. Qnza you and your curly
quotes!) Anyway, runs on any flavor of *ix, get it from tin.org, and it
looks like version 2.4.5 might actually fix the curly quote problem!
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.

Pretty sure the new interface is the new Google Groups, which I believe most of use to read RRC. The problem is on a mobile device it sucks, and you can't post. It is fine on a normal computer which is how I read/post 95% of the time.

Ted

[[e-mail]]

See, on a phone you can’t post/reply, but on a tablet you can. Both are considered mobile operating systems. Why does it allow it on one, but not the other? I read rrc usually on my phone, but need to reply or post on a tablet or computer, neither of which I typically have with me when I’m outside the home.

[Richard Morency]

Post by Dave Althoff, Jr.
Now what's this new interface you guys are complaining about? tin 2.4.4
looks pretty much the same as every other version I have used (although
I really wish I could figure out how to get it to properly display those
8-bit characters a few of you insist on using. Qnza you and your curly
quotes!) Anyway, runs on any flavor of *ix, get it from tin.org, and it
looks like version 2.4.5 might actually fix the curly quote problem!

I finally bit the bullet and signed up on eternal-september.org to use a
'real' nntp provider. Currently using "pan" as my reader, only to get
things into a graphical interface. I may end up eventually going to tin
as well, as it's what I used for years before abandoning it to google
groups a long time ago.

--Richard

[Bob Rahe]

If you happen to use Thunderbird as your mail reader, or even if you
don't, it can do nntp. That's where I'm reading/replying here.
Connected to a_nntp.aioe.org as a provider.

Bob

Post by Richard Morency

Post by Dave Althoff, Jr.
Now what's this new interface you guys are complaining about? tin 2.4.4
looks pretty much the same as every other version I have used (although
I really wish I could figure out how to get it to properly display those
8-bit characters a few of you insist on using. Qnza you and your curly
quotes!) Anyway, runs on any flavor of *ix, get it from tin.org, and it
looks like version 2.4.5 might actually fix the curly quote problem!

I finally bit the bullet and signed up on eternal-september.org to use a
'real' nntp provider. Currently using "pan" as my reader, only to get
things into a graphical interface. I may end up eventually going to tin
as well, as it's what I used for years before abandoning it to google
groups a long time ago.
--Richard