Thank you the jewelry group
 

I joined this group a few month ago. At that time I was new to DIY
jewelry making and looking for help. I got plenty good advice from the
group members. Now I'm doing well.

I want to thank the members of this group.

I do have a question for the group: lately there are fewer and fewer
posts on this group. Are you moving to other sites or groups? I like
this group and hope it will grow.

Lauren
http://jewelrywonder.com/Handcrafted/

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:27:54 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Jessica
wrote:


I do have a question for the group: lately there are fewer and fewer
posts on this group. Are you moving to other sites or groups? I like
this group and hope it will grow.

Not so much moving, but moved.

This group used to be MUCH busier in years past (like ten years ago). But over
the last decade, the Orchid mail list, hosted by the Ganoksin.com web site has
come to pretty much dominate the area of jewelry and jewelry related
discussions. It's by far the most active discussion forum online for people
interested in jewelry, gems, art metal, etc, from professional to hobbyist. That
list currently has well over 10 thousand active subscribers, and gets usually
around 50 new messages per day. I would be surprised if this newsgroup has more
than a dozen or two people who read it on a regular basis at this point.

The big reasons for the move away from this group are that for one, Orchid (has
nothing to do with flowers) is hosted by a web site. People know about the web.
Many newer users of the internet don't even know there IS such a thing as usenet
or newsgroup, much less how to access them. Plus, even knowing that newsgroups
exist, mail lists are easier to access. You subscribe, and they come in email,
which people already have set up. To access a newsgroup, you have to configure
your software to do that, and more than a few people don't know, or won't bother
to do it. Or, alternatively, you access newsgroups via some web service like
Google groups, which isn't ideal. there's a time delay there, it's slow, and
not all types of groups or posts are supported. Plus, for usenet groups,
meaning those that are not specifically unique to Google, there are then extra
steps to jump through to find them, since Google would prefer you read it's
exclusive groups instead of going through them to read the more universal usenet
groups...


Anyway, this group still exists. I still moderate it. But frankly, I've been
doing this for almost 14 years now, and would prefer at this point to find
someone else to moderate the group. Any takers? It seems to serve little
purpose at this point other than being there for those few readers who don't
want to bother with the volume of messages on the Orchid list. So don't expect
this group to grow. It's been doing the opposite for some time now.

Peter Rowe
moderator
rec.crafts.jewelry

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On 15/10/2010 3:39 AM, Peter W. Rowe wrote:
Anyway, this group still exists. I still moderate it. But frankly, I've been
doing this for almost 14 years now, and would prefer at this point to find
someone else to moderate the group. Any takers? It seems to serve little
purpose at this point other than being there for those few readers who don't
want to bother with the volume of messages on the Orchid list. So don't expect
this group to grow. It's been doing the opposite for some time now.

Peter Rowe
moderator
rec.crafts.jewelry

I check this list on occasion, and I do appreciate the work you do to
keep the level of spam to zero.

I frequent the Orchid list more, and thank you for the tips with setting
the black star, I sort of know what to do now.



Regards Charles

Thank you the jewelry group
 

Everyone was getting along swimmingly in rec.crafts.jewelry on or
about Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:39:36 -0700 , when Peter W. Rowe
****ed everything up by saying:

On Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:27:54 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Jessica
wrote:


I do have a question for the group: lately there are fewer and fewer
posts on this group. Are you moving to other sites or groups? I like
this group and hope it will grow.

Not so much moving, but moved.

This group used to be MUCH busier in years past (like ten years ago). But over
the last decade, the Orchid mail list, hosted by the Ganoksin.com web site has
come to pretty much dominate the area of jewelry and jewelry related
discussions. It's by far the most active discussion forum online for people
interested in jewelry, gems, art metal, etc, from professional to hobbyist. That
list currently has well over 10 thousand active subscribers, and gets usually
around 50 new messages per day. I would be surprised if this newsgroup has more
than a dozen or two people who read it on a regular basis at this point.

Some of us read both but as you can see by my time stamps, not too
often.


The big reasons for the move away from this group are that for one, Orchid (has
nothing to do with flowers) is hosted by a web site. People know about the web.
Many newer users of the internet don't even know there IS such a thing as usenet
or newsgroup, much less how to access them. Plus, even knowing that newsgroups
exist, mail lists are easier to access. You subscribe, and they come in email,
which people already have set up. To access a newsgroup, you have to configure
your software to do that, and more than a few people don't know, or won't bother
to do it.

Yeah, only geeks mess with usenet.

Or, alternatively, you access newsgroups via some web service like
Google groups, which isn't ideal. there's a time delay there, it's slow, and
not all types of groups or posts are supported. Plus, for usenet groups,
meaning those that are not specifically unique to Google, there are then extra
steps to jump through to find them, since Google would prefer you read it's
exclusive groups instead of going through them to read the more universal usenet
groups...


Anyway, this group still exists. I still moderate it. But frankly, I've been
doing this for almost 14 years now, and would prefer at this point to find
someone else to moderate the group. Any takers?

Why don't you set it up to moderate itself?
You know, like alt.hackers?

It seems to serve little
purpose at this point other than being there for those few readers who don't
want to bother with the volume of messages on the Orchid list. So don't expect
this group to grow. It's been doing the opposite for some time now.

:-(

Peter Rowe
moderator
rec.crafts.jewelry

noman

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:26:51 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Goat Boy Baaaaaaa!"
wrote:


Yeah, only geeks mess with usenet.

And even that gets harder, since with windows 7, finding software that will do
it means using software that is more and more outdated.

Why don't you set it up to moderate itself?
You know, like alt.hackers?

To do that, for one thing, would be to assume posters would know how, since for
alt.hackers, last I checked, posters had to know how to bypass the moderation
scheme. That is'nt so much any special setup for the group, as it is a change
in the moderation policy to make such auto-approval allowed. The group as it
is now, along with many other moderated groups, is not hard to bypass if one
knows which headers to modify and how, but most usual jewelry group posters
don't have their email or news readers set up to make this possible. So it's
simple for me, but would pretty much kill any remaining posters ability to post.
The other way to do it, would be to set up a web site based moderation scheme
which could make it self moderating, (usually simply a method to block obvious
spam and not much more) but doing that means someone, like me, would then have
to not only set up the web site and code, but pay for the site as well. I'm not
interested in doing that.

What I AM interested in doing is finding another moderator. I've done it now
for 15 years. Enough already. Either someone who just wants the "honor" of
moderating a mostly dead group, or who could take it and somehow build upon it,
such as linking it to some useful web site. The obvious choice there would be
to see if Hanuman, owner and operator of the Ganoksin web site and orchid list,
would like to also be the moderator of this newsgroup. That sort of
consilidation might make sense if nobody has any major objections. But I've not
yet asked Hanuman if he wants to bother doing it. Given the activity level of
the group, I don't see any big rush.

Peter Rowe
moderator (yawn)
rec.crafts.jewelry

Thank you the jewelry group
 

I like this group over Orchid. I find it difficult to get around in
Orchid.

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:56:34 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Janet_of_all_trades
wrote:


I like this group over Orchid. I find it difficult to get around in
Orchid.

This group certainly takes up less of your time, what with something like one or
two meaningful messages every few months, and only about half of them ever
getting a reasonably useful answer in a similar time period.

The trouble is that when you need an answer, you have little guarantee that
anyone who answers actually knows what they're talking about, since many of the
reply posts over the last two years have been little more than thinly veiled
spam, and a fair percentage of answers have been pretty much from members of the
interested but untrained public. Not a good way to get technical help.

Getting around in the Ganoksin web site can be daunting because of it's sheer
size, it's true. But the Orchid mail list itself can be manageable. Rather
than read the thing on the web site itself (which also can be somewhat
cumbersome if you've a slow connection especially), actually subscribe to the
list so you get the messages in your email.

There are two ways to do it.

With both, it's usually best to set up your email program with a special folder
labeled Orchid (or your choice of names) specifically for incoming messages from
the list. If you subscribe to the list in "digest" format, you get one long
message every day. That's manageable. But it can be a slog reading that long
digest since you can't just skip to message headers of interest.

What I do is to subscribe to the list in it's traditional form, which means
individual messages. I have my email filters set up so all messages from the
list go into that folder, and nothing else goes there. That means my regular
email doesn't get mixed in, which would be a mess. My email program allows me
to set properties for the folder that say messages will be kept there for only
two weeks and then deleted. Any messages that contain any info I might want to
keep get flagged as such (which makes the filter not delete it), or I can move
it to another folder to keep.

Most email programs allow you to specify how you want incoming email sorted,
such as by date, by topic, author, etc. Those options let you set it up (and
switch as desired) so you can intellegently follow ongoing single discussions
but not all the other topics that don't interest you.

Well, I'm getting too wordy here. The point is that Orchid/Ganoksin is indeed
"huge", and can be a bit daunting and unweildy until you figure out how to use
it. But the fact remains that it is currently one of the most valuable places
for people in this field to share and discuss needs, questions, topics, etc.
Nothing else like it exists on the web for our field. Not even close. If
Ganoksin and Orchid are a bit harder to get around, it's still worth learning
to do so.

This group, by contrast, may make you feel good to know you're keeping in touch,
but these days, frankly, there's just not much to keep in touch with.

Janet, if you're a fan of this group, would you be interested in taking over as
moderator? Anyone else want to do it? Maybe someone else could figure out how
to turn it into something useful again.

Cheers

Peter Rowe
moderator
rec.crafts.jewelry

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:10:38 -0800, Peter W. Rowe
discovered a keyboard and, for our
edification and amusement, submitted

With both, it's usually best to set up your email program with a special folder
labeled Orchid (or your choice of names) specifically for incoming messages from
the list. If you subscribe to the list in "digest" format, you get one long
message every day. That's manageable. But it can be a slog reading that long
digest since you can't just skip to message headers of interest.

Peter, is there a difference in how the Orchid listis presented? I get
the digest every day, and it always gives me the opportunity to view a
message index -- no need to "slog" through every message.
Jim

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On 1/16/2011 7:37 PM, Peter W. Rowe wrote:


What I AM interested in doing is finding another moderator. I've done it now
for 15 years.

I have been reading newsgroups for over 25 years and this is the only
moderated group I have ever been on and all it does is barf it up by
waiting for the moderator to bless it.

I would much rather wade through garbage then deal with moderation.

Jack



--


Astronomy, Beer, Cheese, Fiber, Gems,
Nature, Radio, Sheep, Sausage, Silver

http://schmidling.com

Thank you the jewelry group
 

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:37:05 -0800, Peter W. Rowe
wrote:

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:26:51 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Goat Boy Baaaaaaa!"
wrote:


Yeah, only geeks mess with usenet.

And even that gets harder, since with windows 7, finding software that will do
it means using software that is more and more outdated.

I don't have Windows 7...yet...but this PC is running XP-Pro x64 using
Agent 2.0 and it works.

Why don't you set it up to moderate itself?
You know, like alt.hackers?

To do that, for one thing, would be to assume posters would know how, since for
alt.hackers, last I checked, posters had to know how to bypass the moderation
scheme.

You could just poast instructions in a FAQ every so often or let the
faithful do it.

That is'nt so much any special setup for the group, as it is a change
in the moderation policy to make such auto-approval allowed. The group as it
is now, along with many other moderated groups, is not hard to bypass if one
knows which headers to modify and how, but most usual jewelry group posters
don't have their email or news readers set up to make this possible. So it's
simple for me, but would pretty much kill any remaining posters ability to post.

It's not that difficult with the right software.

The other way to do it, would be to set up a web site based moderation scheme
which could make it self moderating, (usually simply a method to block obvious
spam and not much more) but doing that means someone, like me, would then have
to not only set up the web site and code, but pay for the site as well. I'm not
interested in doing that.

I'll give you space on my server. You'd just have to pay for the
domain name ($20 a year including whois privacy.)
I won't build the site for you but I will give you a FTP.

You could tell people about mail-to-news gateways and have 'em post
via email and read on Google Froups. (But filling in a header is sure
easier)


What I AM interested in doing is finding another moderator. I've done it now
for 15 years. Enough already. Either someone who just wants the "honor" of
moderating a mostly dead group, or who could take it and somehow build upon it,
such as linking it to some useful web site.

That's the thing, man. The future of the internets is http.
This old way is, well, old.