poll for (ex-)SML members

[Kuramarujo 0]

BTW, I voted for Other. Moderation will not help the list and I'm still subscribed there.

[Asashosakari 19,463]

I would like to throw out there that there is a way for the information content providers to make sure that they have their stuff on both formats with little or no effort and never have to actually read or participate in the list.

The thing is, the forum has pretty much achieved sufficient mass now that there's no clear distinction between "content providers" and "consumers" anymore. (Just looking at the recent marijuana threads, there have been multiple "consumers" reporting what they heard on Japanese TV, what they read in a Russian Roho interview, what they found in outside sources on doping, etc.) And many times, even what news the big hitters like Kinta and Jonosuke are posting is now in direct response to some request or comment, not merely posted in a "well, here's what's new since my last post" vacuum. It's certainly possible for them to copy the SML on that (whether they'd want to is a different matter...), but I imagine it would be incredibly disjointed to read.

I'd also submit that one big reason for the gradual walk-out from the SML (the big elephant in the room, actually, that curiously nobody ever really wants to address on the list) is that there's just so little interest in actually talking about sumo. I'd estimate that in the last year of Moti's news posts to the SML, well over 90% didn't inspire a single response, and I don't mean that I would be expecting to see thank you's, just actual comments. And it's surely not a numbers game...as several SML mainstays are always quick to remind us, there's still a rather large number of SML subscribers, certainly more than the number of registered (and perhaps even registered+unregistered) users that visit the forum in a given week. But, if anything, the percentage of "actual comments" made by the top 10 posters is even larger on the SML than it is here.

Right now, a bunch of SML members are fired up and actually talking about sumo, as there usually are right after one of these "future of the SML" discussions, but I'm willing to bet that's not going to last long and there are going to be (once again) at least two consecutive days during Aki basho where not a single comment will be posted. (Other than canned stuff, i.e. Toshiharu's results, games updates, Henka Sightings, and posts forwarded from the forum.) Please prove me wrong, SML folks.

[Itachi 396]

I selected 'Other' because I haven't left the SML.

I don't like the big long bicker threads - I doubt that anyone does. When the inbox fills with that nonsense it doesn't cause much inconvenience though. I can figure it out after reading a bit of the first few and then I delete the rest unless I'm feeling really bored or nosey.

Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be best just to unsubscribe but I kind of like to see what other sumofans are interested in talking about even if I don't join in the discussion. Also, during the tournament, I get a bit of a sneak preview of the day's news before I launch my browser and get the full story from the forum.

It's kind of funny reading the comments from SML folks who find the forum too confusing or too hostile. I think my cat could figure out how to navigate this forum - it's not at all complicated. Threads get taken over by bickering or general unkindness now and then but it doesn't dominate the tone of the forum like a nasty thread on the SML can.

In short, the SML seems more annoying and irrelevant than not these days but, like the free local newpaper stuffed with flyers that arrives in my mail box each week, I don't mind receiving it as it keeps me plugged in to a segment of our community and occasionally brings me a bit of news.

[Kintamayama 45,299]

I understand that for the last week my private newsletters (I provide that service for people who are not on this forum-it's a crosspost) have been hijacked and posted on the ML. I decided to let them have the original . No point in trying to fight it -they can copy it off here too if they so feel like it .

I won't be posting or re- joining- or reading - just posting the sumo news. After all, it's a sumo list, maybe I should grow up and stop being such an a-hole for a change. Just because there are 2-3 annoying people out there, doesn't mean I can't post some translations, right? Right?? Right??

OK..

[Jonosuke 28]

Just because there are 2-3 annoying people out there, doesn't mean I can't post some translations, right? Right?? Right??

OK..

I am sure they can use your posts and who knows you might change their culture. Please let me know then so I can return to my root. What about the Usenet though (Blinking...)

[Kintamayama 45,299]

Just because there are 2-3 annoying people out there, doesn't mean I can't post some translations, right? Right?? Right??

OK..

I am sure they can use your posts and who knows you might change their culture. Please let me know then so I can return to my root. What about the Usenet though (Blinking...)

I visit rec.sports.sumo daily (not). But I do go there once in a while to see what's cooking.

Nothing.