Reports of the death of the world's most infuriating Discussion Group are greatly exaggerated.
IMO the 'problem' at the moment with the Discussion Group is that too many people who aren't particularly strong in architecture are making too many posts. Their drivel hides what continues to be an outstanding amount of knowledge. In turn, others grow weary and spend their time elsewhere.
When you post, say something meaningful. If you are agreeing with someone, say why. If you are disagreeing, state why and be clear.
FYI I paid our hosting company to create a report on all off-topic threads. They came back with twenty-nine pages of threads and they are preparing to delete them this month. I don't know if your post count will be effected but if it does go way down, you know you are spending your time on too many non-architecture threads.
It is a compliment to the site that so many people elect to spend so much time here. However, just because you like Raquel Welch, that doesn't mean that you should spend all your time standing in front of her house. Unfortunately
there are laws against that sort of thing. No 'laws' apply within this Discussion Group so we have to rely on each person to show good judgment. This community feeds off the behavior and examples set by each of us on a daily basis and as with most things, it can easily slip toward the lower common denominator if we aren't careful. For instance, I just learned yesterday morning from reading the WSJ that a golfer only burns off two Krispy Kreme glazed chocolate doughnuts while walking eighteen holes. Sadly, I was munching on a doughnut at the time and needless to say, 1) I was very troubled but 2) I am not going to make a post about it though it is golf related.
Here is a recent clunker from an extremely active poster: 'I like the new bunker on 6.I believe the knock on the hole was that it played shoort and needed some teeth.Looks like they found it.What a great joy pulling off a shot fro in there.Always looved 5 when most everybody hates.Tee ball to the left second to the right and pitch to island.WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE? A very unique hole.Again GIVE ME SOMETHING.In the clughouse each hole should have some memorable to discuss and these two holes posted meet that criteria.Fun course period.And derserving of majors.' Really - the guy is so busy that is the best he can do?
What would Strunk & White say? Whatever it may be, it is a poor reflection on this Discussion Group and thus on the web site as a whole. Everyone needs to slow down and take their time - no awards are being handed out for speed posting and/or quantity of posts. After all, complete sentences and going light on misspelled words only helps your point, not harm it (and if you don't have a point, why post?).
Remember: If you are going to post on a near daily basis, the burden is squarely on you to stick to architecture and to add to the subject matter overall. This site remains about quality, not quantity.
Some suggest that we need a moderator that hawks the Discussion Group on a continual basis. Give me a break. What we need are people who can articulate their thoughts on golf course architecture in a meaningful manner. To that end, Ben and I continually add (and therefore subtract) approximately 15% of the 1,500 registered participants on an annual basis, trying to find the mix that yields the most informative Discussion Group possible. Clearly, I need to do a better job of screening people initially and/or being quicker to push the eject button for nincompoops who don't grasp what we are trying to do here. GolfClubAtlas.com is meant to be a way to give back to a fascinating subject matter within the great game of golf. Golf course architecture wins, as do we all, by sharing knowledge within this free access site. It is not and will not become the personal playground where people put their own amusement ahead of these higher goals.
This web site is read in all the corners of the world where golf is played and we have an obligation to present our best foot forward. 99% of you understand and act like that and we thank you for making this the best web site in the world, bar none.
Cheers,