North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["fuwa fuwa usagi" <fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com>]

It is probably much ado about nothing...

Ten years ago we were discussing the same thing, when the "chat" group 
started.   Lon, already discussed "reality", many are just choosing to ignore 
it.  

I suspect unless NAFEX gets a large endowment [i.e. Jerry leaves it big bucks 
;)  ] Pomona, as it relates to its present content is finished in the long 
term.  

This is what I meant earlier when I mentioned NAFEX needs to decide what its 
mission is.  If it is to foster communication as the originators did, then 
this list or a web based interface fulfills that purpose in a manner superior 
to the original. 

The reality is net-like centric communications are the future - period.  In 
20 years the point will be moot.  Bandwidth, access will all be solved and 
those who never knew of computer technology will simply be nourishing the 
earth.  So what we are really talking about is the intermediate future over 
the next 10 years and then the disposition of Pomona.  It should be clear, 
based on Lon's comments that Pomona has evolved/devolved from its original 
purpose. It has taken on more of a "writers" tone then of a "plain ol' 
guy/gal who grows things" tone relating their expereince.  Is that good or 
bad - depends on your view.  

In reviewing Nafex's history, it has been pretty darn "bloody" considering it 
is made up of people who want to nurture plants.  As I recall the organics 
were once going to be banned, there was a professional vs amateur war, 
whether to ban "nut" discussions, banning "vegtable discussions", and tons of 
cute little political maneuvers.  That NAFEX and Pomona survived is a 
testament to the idea that we can chose between all hanging together or 
hanging separately.  So far NAFEXers have decided to hang together, thus 
Pomona has survived - barely, with the submissions coming from a more 
distinct, identifiable group of people.  In large part that has been a result 
of the idea of largely doing nothing and letting province take a hand.  

My personal view is NAFEX would be far better served by acknowledging reality 
and planning for the future. Working now to get permission from living 
author's to republish their works in electronic media, indexing the articles, 
and providing a discussion thread per link would be of great benefit, 
preserving the past and introducing it to future generations, while allowing 
those who penned those words to live on beyond their mortal plane.  

Securing the funds to operate a website and creating an endowment for funding 
into the future would be the responsible thing to do.   

As an example I received an e-mail from someone who was part of an active 
discussion over an article I wrote in Pomona nearly ten years ago.  
Apparently someone created a private group and decided to scan my article an 
upload it as a jpeg many years ago.  The conversation has been going for 
nearly ten years with a whooping 236 entries since inception. People read the 
article, posted their comments, and experimented with my concept and reported 
their observations and results.  From a pragmatic standpoint, becasue it is 
in a web based format, the discussion has never died. How many 10 year old 
articles in Pomona do you know of that still have active discussions?

Anyways, I made my thoughts known, and I above all have the least to say in 
the matter.

Excelsior,

the fluffy bunny



  

  



 



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