Ruth Barton wrote:

>Ken,  Why are you deserting us????  Is this a new mail list or what?  I
>don't know PTN, are they as much fun as this list?  Ruth
>
Ruth,

It is not a case of desertion... it is a case of my wanting to move
everyone to a more accommodating community house.

This list is people and if we have the same people in another house I
suspect that we will continue to have fun. At present if you want to
know about Badgers Arse TP you need to go to the PTN house. If you want
to know about traditional slate roofing you need go there as well. The
"Speak Easy" section of PTN Live! is intended as a play forum and we may
have fun there.

PTN Live! will grow to meet the needs of the users of the resource.

PTN is the Preservation Trades Network, and there are many subscribers
of BP who are also members of PTN, including myself. Just as BP is
hosted by St. Johns University, the open-to-the-public PTN Live! is
hosted by PTN. You do not have to be a member of PTN to participate on
the bulletin board, you do not have to have any more qualification than
the desire to be present. It is a different sort of format than BP, it
is website based, and it may take a bit of getting used to how to
navigate. Ask questions and someone will offer help.

For years now we have dealt with BP with the signal:noise ratio problem,
in which people seeking signal are put off by the noise. Overall, though
there are some really fine relationships developed here, the use of BP
as an information resource is often reduced and terminally curtailed due
to the barrage of e-mails that many people find distracting and that
puts them off from wanting to participate on the list. With PTN Live!
users are able to seek out and sort through the information, the topics,
the people that they wish to associate and communicate with.

BP has a base on average of 100 subscribers. Though there are people
that come into BP, there are others that leave as quickly and the
pattern has been of maintaining 100 subscribers. You do not see 100
subscribers talking on BP, which means that the majority of subscribers
are either lurking -- watching quietly in the background from time to
time -- or they are not paying any attention at all and the e-mails go
into an oblivion file on their computers. You do not see 100 people
talking on BP.

There are a hell of a lot more than 100 people that may want to know
about antique screwdrivers in Vermont, to read one of Pyrate's stories,
or to be able to get the best information on brownstone composite
patching, or assistance in figuring out how to combat legislative
anti-preservation forces in their community, or to know who is going to
be where and when, those concerned about waxed screens, or simply to
keep in touch with Ralph's humor. Many of these people want this sort of
community interaction, but are prohibited from participation because
they simply do not have the time, energy or resources to keep up with an
undigested stream of e-mails.

In this respect I have wanted and have sought for quite some time an
alternative. I did not have the technical capability to create the
resource, and as the former PTN webmaster I was frustrated in wanting to
implement a community building tool that I was able to envision, but not
alone by myself able to realize. Due to my general proficiency with
being competently incompetent, guilt ridden and mildly depressed, Rudy
Christian had mercy and took it upon himself to boot me out of the role
of PTN webmaster. Carson Christian, Rudy's son, is highly competent in
the technical area and between the two of them they share a vision of
community that as far as I am concerned melds perfectly with my original
desire in starting BP to develop a virtual community of like minded
spirits who share a reverence and irreverence for histo presto, as well
as a great deal of creative and intellectual energy. I could not hope
for a better team to take over and lead.

 From the inception of BP I have had one guiding task and that is to
make sure that everyone who posts a message gets a response... even if
it means that I have to make up stuff. In some quarters this may not
have been understood for the simpleness of the human interaction -- what
we most often need is not technical information on how to replace the
pipes on our sink, but to know that we are heard and that someone cares
to listen.

Listening is a difficult task to carry alone. I have learned and shared
so much here that I cannot begin... should not begin to express it... I
hope that everyone will join with me in listening and responding at PTN
Live!

Thanks,
][<en

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