Yes fellow Grexers. Although I am fully aware of the fact that in life,
one always got to look ahead never look backwards, the symptoms of 
dormancy (at best) for the oathbound cf pains me.
As fate consists of three elements, past, present and future, I'd say it
 is the past that has determined the present. I can't be so that this
state of emptiness in Oathbound should be here  to stay.  The future is
being made today, therefore I'd say why not give it a try  and revive
the once so buzzing Oathbound conference?

127 responses total.

        It was Anne and Sun in the beginning, and neither one logs on much
anymore ...

Activity breeds more activity with conferences.
The hard part is getting past "apathy" that seems to follow the flurry of
activity in an new start.
Did you forsee us posting here in this 1 item as a start, going back out into
the other items or starting a brand new selection of items to carry on in ?

WHat is it that brought you all here whne the conference was more active and
what is it that led us all to stop posting ?

I came in because I'd met some of the regular posters in person and they told
me about the conference. So it became a way to communicate with them more
often, and to meet all of those who were here already.
I left due to time constraints. My activity on grex in general has always been
determined by what job I had at the time. During my most active times I was
either working part time or had a job with free time and a computer on hand.
I would participate at home but the amount of time I spent working affected
how much time nad energy I had to participate when at home.
CUrrently my job is very time consuming and I don't have much time to sepnd
out of work here but I have found myself dropping by for a short visit now
and then just not as often or as active as in the past.

Grex is my only way to meet grexers. How did I get here? Well, when I started
late '94 or so I tried many conferences. Some stuck, like the ever renewing
Agora, but I also discovered Oathbound and Inferno. Then Inferno died. And
now Oathbound? Would it testify of conservatism to try hold on to the things
you appreciate so much? The funny thing for me is, Matthew the other way
round, I met Grexers after being online for a couple of years. I was satisfied
with this type of contact for some time, but gradually my desire grew to
really meet them and be able to put a face to the persons you know online.
In this I succeeded last year, much to thank for mooncat of course.
Btw, John, it isn't that she isn't often on line as she isn'y much on line.
She pops up in Party often enough, but never long.
Another thing: your email address doesn't work anymore. I could sustain with
your grex mail, but it limits so much.





ooops, hit the return button too long. (grin)

Oh... the cat is around... But because of her dumb telnet program the 
only way she can read bbs is via backtalk or dialing in directly.... 
Neither of which I do often but should.

Most of the 'old gang' has gone the way of the 'Gang of Four' tis sad 
but true.  This conference was active... for awhile, I think it's most 
active was while I was in IReland.. <grins> Sun is around, as froggie 
(or some variant on the spelling)... But... who knows... 

The old guard is here... a few of us... and new people... I'm not sure 
they'd get this place....

Is it time to draw in new people then ? There must be a few 'old timers' who
would tkae note if the activity continue and maybe drop by from time to time.
Maybe some new people here would increase traffic, but how would you draw them
in and what sort of people might like it here ? I know people who would like
the atmostphere and conversation here but they're not interested in online
discussion.
Any ideas ?

        Anne, maybe it's because you haven't ordered custom t-shirts for the
old guard.  We need swag, swag, swag!

Hats too !
We need hats, adn coffee cups and golf towels...
Wait a minute. I don't even like golf.
Sorry I let me enthusiasim get the best of me.

What is considered old guard here ? By the time I showed up many people had
been active for some time so I don't really feel "old guard". How about
everyone else ? Where do you fit in here and does it matter ?

MAtt- I think you now qualify as Old Guard.  Which would seem to 
consist of four right now, John, you, Rick and myself.  Gee... alone 
with three men, how can a girl be blue. <grins>

ANYWAY... I don't know how to get more people in here... Ideas anyone?

I don't fit in.  I just hang around the edges, watching and listening.

This is just a suggestion, but one way to incite the new would be to stop
remembering the past, which includes a finite number of people, and think
about the future, ie: renew, recycle, start again.
Just a suggestion.

Yeah...this conference is kind of an "in crowd" conference.  Most items are
conversations between and about Melly, Anne, John, Val, Mary, etc.  It's all
drifted to a sort of table-talk between the old crowd.  

We could rename this conference the Old People's Home and dedicate
it entirely to 'the good old days'

(grins)

        Hrm, it'd seem to me to be more of an issue of people discussing the
past because nobody else is interested in the conference or adding anything.
Now if the fairwitness cared to Josenhans her conference in public ...

I pass through on occasion and make sarcastic comments.  You guys should stir
up more activity, so I'd have some stuff to comment on sarcastically every
once in a while.

<laughs> Good advice from everyone, thanks. :)  I'll have to see what I 
can do about taking some of that good advice.

Hear that?
She upgraded our comments to advice status.

yay.

See?
I gave it a shot.
Now it's up to you guys.

        Now, now, you have to work a lot harder than that if you're going to
call it "giving it a shot".  It took me at least a week to revive a
conference, when I really wanted to get one revived, on Nexuss Point, and
there were fewer conferences there.  Perhaps a nagging banner in Backtalk or
in the Agora conference? :)

Advertise, advertise

Sometimes I say that it's the intention that matters in which
things are undertaken, but now I am not sure anymore.

Let me rephrase then: I gave it a feeble attempt.

Better?
(grin)

(nothing to add right now. Just passing through on my way to bed. this last
week was a very long month.) <zzzzzzzzz.......>

<ponders that... 'last week was a very long month..'> Okay...

In any case... It almost seems wrong to advertise this conf... but I 
have (repeatedly) put it in the other confs on grex item in Agora.  
But... maybe I should do more...

Hrm... I'm not going to all out pimp it out though... bleah

Although... we could always create a new in-crowd... But I would insist 
on seeing some of ya'll locals a bit more often <pokes Matt>

That was part of what made this all happen before- hanging out in 
person- and then discussing it here, kinda... <grins>

heh, that would be hard to achieve.

It's not so hard.

It really isn't.  Granted not everyone can get together, but that's how 
it was before as well.

This conference used to get treated as a virtual cafe of sorts.
Pass the mozzarella sticks, please. :)

CHeese sticks !?!?
RE: #23 careful, I bruise easily.  :)
Some of us do have the advantage of being local so it is easy to talk on and
offline. These days it's usualy a matter of time and timing.
So who is still in the area and when (if ever) do people get together ?
Let me offer this up:
Almost every Sunday I meet up with some friends at Conner O'Niels around 7:30
or 8pm. This is not an invitation only gathering, anyone is welcome to show
up. I wont be in this weekend, but this is a rare happening.

Heh.. I used to arrange Friday gatherings at Connors... And have gotten 
several requests to do so again.... <laughs> So I may have to... Other 
then that there are no 'formal' or usual gathering times.

        Yes, yes, Anne, organize! 

Hmmmm.

As someone definitely not in the former in-crowd, but someone who has
Grexed on and off since, oh, 93 or so, like Matthew, a matter of
different amounts of time for Grexing,) I have a couple of suggestions
for revitalizing the conference.

1.  What is the objective of this conference?  If it is simply a place
for a few folks that know one another to talk back and forth when the
whim takes them, then you might as well make it a private conference and
go from there; you won't draw many people in because they will not get
your allusions, most of us won't read through the items with hundreds of
responses to understand all the history.  It's like expecting people at
a party to enter an obvious  group of friends bantering in
quasi-dialect.  At a party, in person, there is sometimes an energy that
will draw people in even through this wall, but you don't have that
here.  You must be consciously open and inclusive to persuade the shy,
not like me, to participate, and participation is the life blood of a
conference.

Part of doing this is to have an idea what topics the conference should
address.  Without such a charter, conversation tends to fall into
banter, which if that's what you want, all well and good, but if you
want new blood it isn't what you want.  

Next, I would take a serious scythe to the undergrowth of the past that
is in this conference.  I read some of the items, ignored others and
started reading others, only to skip to the 800th response or so.  Were
i the FW of this conference, I would remove any item with a last
response date of anything before 1999 at least, if not this year. 
Clearly, those are dead conversations, and in many cases contain so many
items that they are too daunting for the new participant to read through
and try and respond to.

Finally, I'm getting the sense that the conference culture has changed
somewhat from when I was doing this a lot in times past.  Agora seems as
crowded as ever, but people don't seem to be going into the permanent
conferences as much.  others are bemoaning this fact in other
conferences.  I don't know what one can do about this.

Just my $0.03, gas prices you know.

thanks for the input, as a fw, I do appreciate it.  

Originally the conference was, in all honesty, a vanity conference for 
sun and myself.  

Officially it was dubbed 'the friendship conf' where discussion about 
friendships could take place... I think we need to emphasize that a bit 
more.  

Maybe when I find some time, when I'm at home, I can go back, freeze a 
bunch of dead items and perhaps create some new ones...  Although, some 
of the debates we did have are rather beaten to death, new blood could 
help add new perspectives though...

A *lot* of my favorite cfs haven't been visited in a long time.  I think we
lost a lot of users who had time to wade through things (college students and
teenagers), so now it's mostly Agora and the popular cfs like sex, coop, and
music.  Those students and teenagers graduated and went onto other things. 
(Example: McKendree crowd)

The other trick is to link items.  That can draw a lot of discussion and
promote your cf.  Ken does it all the time with music.  ;-)

but he's a better pimp than I am... and less selective. <laughs>

But yes, linking good... reminds me that Agora item needs to be linked 
to pets... <wanders off>

Linking is a useful tool if used judiciously.  But the problem with
linking to Agora is that people won't come here to read the item,
they'll just stay in the swamp o0f Agora.

good point that, but it can help to at least bring attention to the 
conference. Some people might not know it exists.

Exactly.  There have been lots of times I've read Agora and wondered "linked to
what cf?  That exists?  Neat!", and then I go check it out.  Or, I ask what
it's about.  So, if someone said, "What's Oathbound?" Anne (or someone else)
could say, "It's a cf dedicated to discussing friendship and other issues
surrounding it."

Yeah! <grins>

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss