From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave 2013 GOH
Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 22:17:41 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

"Mike B." <yahoo at omniphile.com> wrote:
> It's possible that those in charge of the press release think that
> usenet is dead.

And it's possible that the people on Usenet think that Capclave is
dead. :-)  Hearing nothing about something for a long time is likely
to lead to that conclusion.  Or to simply not thinking about the thing
no longer mentioned.

> It's not a news publication anyway, so a "press" release wouldn't go
> there, right?

Maybe not, but rasff is the obvious place to reach lots of fans.  (And
pros, and smofs.)  Capclave's own website is another obvious choice,
but there's no Capclave 2012 page, and no mention of Capclave 2012 on
any other page that I can find.

> It's for "press" people.  If there are any left.

There are plenty of newspapers and magazines, but will they print it?
And will fans read it if they do?  There are fannish publications such
as Locus, but most fans don't read them.

> Perhaps we should be giving up on that old tech, and going with the
> current method of reaching people?  I.e. make a Youtube video.

A video of what?  Someone reading from a piece of paper?  How is that
better than simply posting the text directly?  And even if all fans
had broadband and graphical browsers -- both of which are necessary
for Youtube -- why would they just happen to watch that one video out
of thousands available?

> We can ignore the fact that our intended audience *READS*.  It
> wouldn't be very modern of us to actually think about how our
> methods relate to our audience...I think that idea went out with
> "press" people.

Indeed.

Samuel Lubell <samlubell at verizon.net> wrote:
> Good point about rec.arts.sf.fandom.  I'll have to see if anyone
> still has access.  Verizon stopped providing usenet a few years ago.

The day my ISP stops providing Usenet is the day I change ISPs -- and
demand a refund, as they're no longer providing the service I paid for.

If people are willing to put up with worse and worse service, that's
exactly what they'll get.  I won't even put up with it for free --
I used the digital coversion as an excuse to get rid of my TV.  The
proportion of commercials per hour had been steadily creeping upwards
for decades, and the quality of the shows had been (in my opinion)
gradually dropping.  I don't think I had even turned it on, except to
test it, since 9/11.

I'm told that millions of Americans *pay* to watch TV -- with
commmercials!  P.T. Barnum was right.  Sigh.