On Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:44:59 +0000 (UTC), Switters
wrote:

However, the advent of cheesy web-based forums has for some reason meant
a migration of people. For the masses, the ability to pimp up your
avatar, include graphical signatures and graphical smileys means much
more than the pure speed afforded by usenet and killfiles from suitable
clients.

Web forums suck. LOL!

etc etc...

Plus, really, where's snowboarding going? The large technological
innovations of the 90s are complete, and now stuff's just being refined
to eek out that extra 0.001%. The rest is just marketing. With that,
there just doesn't seem to be the same breadth of topics to talk about.
We haven't even had a wacky concept to deride and laugh at for a while.

Yep, I think boarding has grown up! I've been on a couple of trips
with skiers or mixed groups recently, and it's completely unremarkable
- no one cares whether you're on one plank or two.

Come winter, we'll get the "is this board good for me" posts, which
can't be answered in the FAQ, and only get a discussion if a couple of
the regulars have tried it. Many posts go unanswered, not because we're
rude, but because the number of people reading has dropped, and out of
those, no-one's ridden the board being queried.

For me, I'm set with my gear, and haven't bothered trying a different
board for almost 2 seasons now. The last one being a Fish which I
borrowed off a mate for an hour. Hardly an exhaustive test though.

Pretty much the same for me. I've got my gear, I know what I like, so
there's less stuff to talk about here. What would be useful would be
conversations on places to go, etc, but as most of the members of this
group are based in the US (and, it seems to me, most US riders just go
to their local hill), that's not so handy for a world wide
perspective. I use rec.skiiing.resorts.europe for a lot of that sort
of thing now.

--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk