Those of you that read this blog are a mixed bag of a group. Some of you are one time readers. Some of you are old friends. Some of you are Deep Time living fossils of my past. Others of you are online acquaitences. I'd like to direct all of you to take a moment to puruse the usenet groups of alt.history.future, soc.history.what-if, and rec.arts.sf.science. They are about discussions of the future, what-if scenarios of the historical past, and the science of science fiction scenarios. There are truly some incredibly friendly and knowledgable people there.
The problem is that they are in decline as people that used to post are getting busy with the rest of life (guilty!) or at the other end, there has been a massive decline of new blood. Usenet in general is in decline as a medium. The 'replacement' has been the blogosphere. However the blogs are a soapbox medium - the bullypulpit - instead of a good discussion forum, the Friday Night Fight, so to speak for you LCens.
So, go ahead, read a bit and post something. Make it interesting and don't pick something inane: what-if the Germans won WW2 or could the deathstar beat the enterrpise, or will America become an islamic state. Put a little thought into it and you will get some very good and informed replies.
The problem is that they are in decline as people that used to post are getting busy with the rest of life (guilty!) or at the other end, there has been a massive decline of new blood. Usenet in general is in decline as a medium. The 'replacement' has been the blogosphere. However the blogs are a soapbox medium - the bullypulpit - instead of a good discussion forum, the Friday Night Fight, so to speak for you LCens.
So, go ahead, read a bit and post something. Make it interesting and don't pick something inane: what-if the Germans won WW2 or could the deathstar beat the enterrpise, or will America become an islamic state. Put a little thought into it and you will get some very good and informed replies.
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