--- In kom_@yahoogroups.com, Nige White <nigelw@f...> wrote:
> Perhaps we should move en-masse to a web-based forum.
> Email lists are so 80s!

yahoogroups IS a web-based forum, of sorts, you can access this group
quite nicely as < http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/kom_ >.
Obvious I know, but maybe it eludes some of the people still
accessing such groups in email mode.

> I think http://www.veloriders.co.uk/ could add a special "Climbing"
> forum to it's list?
there are plenty of such forums around, and maybe that's part of why
things are so quiet here now. But the atmosphere of most forums is
different and you risk losing direct contact (or at least feeling)
with prominent participants. Kom is more about Francois and Nigel
than about Ventoux and Rosedale, if you get my drift.

Other such groups are feeling the pinch too. My suggestion would be
to merge with some similar group and try to regain critical mass
without losing all identity.

An obvious candidate is Eurobike, which is in many ways a sister
group, with many common posters, very similar interests, fairly
similar atmosphere, identical location on yahoogroups and similar
(although not yet as severe) problem of declining volume of posts.
Eurobike has a strong tradition of getting members together to ride
and is also a bit more sophisticated about "forum" features like
photos and votes. It might be a profitable marriage for both groups.
The alternatives look bleak to me.

Thoughts, anyone?

Regards,
Brian