Tuesday, April 11, 2006
sorry to be a buzz-kill GBS, but I really don't think that this is a good idea. First of all, I am almost certain that OO is not the least interested in contributing the resources needed to create such a space, when if they do anything at all, they'll put their focus on promoting those people who actually involved in the event.
Personal feelings here aside, not to mention possible slander and other libel-chilling postings, what happened on the old chat didn't really matter.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed much of what was posted, but I don't seriously consider it to be of interest to an unengaged reader. A far more interesting article would be about the effect of the new media and the new voyeurism it generated and the effect THAT had on adventure reporting and writing. Without the Internet allowing us to watch death in real time there wouldn't have been a story. And without the story, I highly doubt if we would have seen the incredible growth of the outdoor book industry or motivational speaker engagements.
My other problem with collecting the posts for publishing is that they were never intended to be used as such. while we all (like any forum) took on the role of panelists and spouted opinions that were occasionally even on topic, we were nothing more than a cyber coffee klatch - albeit a fairly smart and good looking one.
But let me end with this question; What exactly would we be honouring by marking May 10 in some way?
Personal feelings here aside, not to mention possible slander and other libel-chilling postings, what happened on the old chat didn't really matter.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed much of what was posted, but I don't seriously consider it to be of interest to an unengaged reader. A far more interesting article would be about the effect of the new media and the new voyeurism it generated and the effect THAT had on adventure reporting and writing. Without the Internet allowing us to watch death in real time there wouldn't have been a story. And without the story, I highly doubt if we would have seen the incredible growth of the outdoor book industry or motivational speaker engagements.
My other problem with collecting the posts for publishing is that they were never intended to be used as such. while we all (like any forum) took on the role of panelists and spouted opinions that were occasionally even on topic, we were nothing more than a cyber coffee klatch - albeit a fairly smart and good looking one.
But let me end with this question; What exactly would we be honouring by marking May 10 in some way?
