WJP,
My apology was sincere. I could have blown smoke about it all being a misunderstanding. Instead I apologised and explained why my post was written in the manner it was: I found his opinion of the article totally at odds with his own previous statements.
I both apologised and explained my errors.
I read that too. Along with this bit:
I can remember a time when the TML was an incredible resource for a Traveller gamer. There was always something cool and insteresting to discuss there. People would post rules, stories, tech discussions...all things Traveller.
It used to be such a comfortable place.
Alas, it's not any longer.
That old wheeze has been around nearly as long as the TML itself. It was incorrect in 1996 and it is incorrect in 2006.
Someone describing the old TML as 'comfortable' is forgetting the great Piracy Flamewars, the TNE Split, the Guatney Years, and many, many, many other such incidents. The TML is comfortable now, it was never comfortable then. The TML today is a doddering, toothless relic compared to what it used to be. The TML of today is as comfortable as a grave.
As for the TML's lack of 'spark' or 'content', that's due more to changes in the Internet than anything else.
First, we have many more venues in which to discuss Traveller now. Back 'in the day' the TML was the only game in town. If you wanted to talk Traveller you had only one place to go. Currently there are several active Traveller fora.
People haven't been 'run off' as much as they've been given more choices. It's akin to how cable has seriously eroded the huge ratings once enjoyed by the Big Three Networks. There are even more people talking Traveller now thanks to GT and T20. They're just all spread out over many more fora just as TV viewers are spread out over 500+ channels.
Second, the TML's own physical format makes it a dinosaur. Email based subscription lists are a thing of the past. They made sense in an early Internet with 28K dial-up modems and pricey connection fees. They makr little sense now.
Web-based forums are how hobbyists communicate today. We're on one now. You can upload pictures, insert links, search for certain posts, respond in real time, and a hundred other things you can never do on an email subcription list. The technology has improved making web-based forums both achievable and desirable. We've all got better computers and high speed connections at cheap prices too.
Simply put, technology has passed the List by. The TML is the telegraph in a cell phone world. People are there more out of inertia and nostalgia than anything else. I subscribe to and occassionally read the TML Digest as I can get more Traveller content much faster in a better format both here at COTI or at SJGames.
I know you've tried jump starting things on the List of late and your efforts should be applauded. You need to remember the audience there though. It's mostly all 'oldtimers' and few newbies. Most newbies use web-based fora because they're used to 'cell phones' and not the 'telegraph'.
Over the years, the oldtimers have seen other versions of your various die rolling schemes. Posting a new and improved die rolling scheme - and your lastest version is new and improved - isn't going to going to excite them that much. It's a case of them saying "Been there, seen that" even though they are mistaken.
The TML cannot return to its 'glory days' anymore than ABC, CBS, or NBC can. The world has changed.
Have fun,
Bill
