On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 18:06:51 -0500, Jeff Potter wrote:

My ISP is a HUGE local ISP and oddly they say that I'm almost the only
user of their newsreader service (which they buy from Slurp.net). I find
it very odd that Usenet is used so little by the public. Offhand it
seems like one of the best info resources of the modern era. Are people
really THAT community-phobic or something?

I think the reasons are mostly technical. Newsreader software is the stuff
of geeks. Many isps are inconsistent in news server setup or don't offer
it at all. The client tools look like email and they already have email.

I think blogs will surpass news as the interest groups are self organizing
rather than organized by obscure committee and the user involvment
requires more natural web site skills. That's why I'm proposing to our
WINN board, that the blogs.xcskiwinn.org site be made available to all
WINN members and always for free to coaches at our dec. 7th annual
meeting. If it generates membership, great. We'll just spend that on xc
organizations, events and other activities.