AOL Steel Forum!
Frank Sereno
Paul Franklin wrote:
>
> I thought I would remind everyone who has been interested in the steel
> guitar group on the AOL but stayed away from it because of the hourly
> Net charges. AOL now is 19.95 per month for unlimited service. The AOL
> Steel Guitar group isn't plagued with the spam of this group and is well
> worth the money IMHO. There is only "Heavy Pedal" talk in the aol forum.
> PF
Here's some things to think about if your main reason for accessing the
Net isn't just the Pedal Steel. First, AOL costs more than most local
ISP's. Many ISP's are going to $15 monthly for unlimited access.
Second, AOL isn't a local call for everyone. It would cost me an
additional 4 or 5 cents a minute in telephone toll charges to access
AOL.
That's an additional $2.40 to $3.00 per hour! Third, if more people
would participate in alt.guitar.lap-pedal, then the spam ratio would be
a lot lower. Fourth, most of the spam gets here accidentally and it is
pretty easy to identify and ignore. Since when does Elmo play PSG?
Perhaps if you could encourage AOL to make the PSG forum accessible from
the Internet for a small monthly free, then more of us could
participate. But in the meantime, I'd really appreciate it if you would
encourage more on the AOL forum to participate in alt.guitar.lap-pedal.
I have really found your articles (Paul Franklin, b0b, Joe Wright, et
al) to be fascinating and educational. Until such time as AOL becomes a
cost-effective option for everyone (but especially ME), I ask that you
folks keep active on alt.guitar.lap-pedal.
Thank you and happy holidays!
Frank Sereno
Pali1
AOL has a variety of plans- the $19.95/month now being the most expensive.
I believe it goes as little as $9.95/month if you don't use their local
access # (which, for me, is usually busy anyway, these days). I use a
local internet service provider for other things for $100./year and access
AOL via TCP/IP connection (one of their setup options).
Steve Feldman
In article <5a82vk$7...@news.usit.net>, pau...@usit.net says...
>
>I thought I would remind everyone who has been interested in the steel
>guitar group on the AOL but stayed away from it because of the hourly
>Net charges. AOL now is 19.95 per month for unlimited service. The AOL
>Steel Guitar group isn't plagued with the spam of this group and is well
>worth the money IMHO. There is only "Heavy Pedal" talk in the aol forum.
>PF
>
Paul -
I just wanted to throw my 2-cents in here on this subject. I, myself, am
not on AOL, and I'm sure many of the other participants/readers of this
newsgroup use other Internet providers as well. Good, bad, or otherwise,
this is one NG that I briefly check on a near-daily basis. I personally
would not like to see this type of discussion restricted to a 'members
only' forum.
This NG is not so plagued by spam as are many others. In fact, outside of
the Ynigwweagnh crap that pops up every now and then, the only time I've
seen the spam get really ridiculous was with this Tickle Me Elmo BS just
recently. The problem that I have, as -b0b- mentioned in his post about
his web site, is that the posting and archiving of articles is sporadic
and unreliable. Maybe this is because we are an 'alt' group .....
There will be crap in any newsgroup, but I believe that the participants
of a newsgroup can dictate whatever signal-to-noise ratio they want by
their level of input.
**************************************
AND ON AN UNRELATED NOTE:
I ran across a list of 20 "Reasons why guitars are better than women",
(and a similar list of "Reasons why women are better than guitars") at
http://www.yoko.ens-cachan.fr:8080/~tellez/guitars-women.html
I don't know anything about the site, but the list was pretty funny.
Steve Feldman <te...@vt.edu>
In the beautiful Blue Ridge
Joe Wright
Paul Franklin wrote:
>
> I thought I would remind everyone who has been interested in the steel
> guitar group on the AOL but stayed away from it because of the hourly
> Net charges. AOL now is 19.95 per month for unlimited service. The AOL
> Steel Guitar group isn't plagued with the spam of this group and is well
> worth the money IMHO. There is only "Heavy Pedal" talk in the aol forum.
> PF
provider for $9.95 a month unlimited service. In other words you can
keep your current ISP and sign on to AOL through that for a cheaper rate.
The fact that there are no tickle me Elmo's crossed post in AOL is truly
refreshing. Nothing but steel....JW
Paul Franklin
Paul Franklin
Just wanted to clarify my post. I'm not advocating that anyone leave
their participation here to post on AOL. It has just been a fact for
well over a year now that the AOL group is alot more active and
informative. With or without my posts to either group they both will go
on. I just wanted everyone to know that it is very reasonable to get AOL
now. In my opinion the AOL newsgroup is well worth your money and time.
If you've never been there check it out for a month and see what you
think......PF
MPerlowin
I just want to add my 2 cents. The AOL group is very happening. Lots of
dedicated players swapping information and no spams. I advocate that
everybody interested in steel guitar join AOL if for no other reason than
to access the group. Mike Perlowin
Bob Lee
MPerlowin <mper...@aol.com> wrote ...
I think it's worth noting that some Web pages (including mine!) are
currently being blocked by AOL's browser. The pages are valid HTML 3.2
(the current standard), but for some unknown reason AOL's Web browser
refuses to load them. If anyone has specific information on why this is
happening, please let me know.
While I agree that AOL's steel discussions is great, I wouldn't spend
$240/year for a magazine subscription, and AOL cannot provide the level of
service that *I* need from an ISP.
-b0b-
--
qua...@wco.com (Bobby Lee)
visit the Steel Guitar Forum at http://www.wco.com/~quasar/wwwboard/
Paul Franklin
I have never read any steel magazine that even comes close to giving you the info that you recieve from the AOL steel forum. I =
understand your beef with AOL but if you can afford AOL just for the Steel forum alone you would be getting a bargain IMHO. I wish w=
hen I was in Detroit learning how to play I could have gotten my questions answered almost instantly. This is whats happening over t=
here and that is worth 120.oo a yr. which is the minimum charge for getting a limited AOL subscription.
Jon Smorada
>
> I just wanted to throw my 2-cents in here on this subject. I, myself, am
> not on AOL, and I'm sure many of the other participants/readers of this
> newsgroup use other Internet providers as well. Good, bad, or otherwise,
> this is one NG that I briefly check on a near-daily basis. I personally
> would not like to see this type of discussion restricted to a 'members
> only' forum.
>
> This NG is not so plagued by spam as are many others. In fact, outside of
> the Ynigwweagnh crap that pops up every now and then, the only time I've
> seen the spam get really ridiculous was with this Tickle Me Elmo BS just
> recently. The problem that I have, as -b0b- mentioned in his post about
> his web site, is that the posting and archiving of articles is sporadic
> and unreliable. Maybe this is because we are an 'alt' group .....
>
> There will be crap in any newsgroup, but I believe that the participants
> of a newsgroup can dictate whatever signal-to-noise ratio they want by
> their level of input.
>
> **************************************
> AND ON AN UNRELATED NOTE:
>
> I ran across a list of 20 "Reasons why guitars are better than women",
> (and a similar list of "Reasons why women are better than guitars") at
> http://www.yoko.ens-cachan.fr:8080/~tellez/guitars-women.html
>
> I don't know anything about the site, but the list was pretty funny.
>
> Steve Feldman <te...@vt.edu>
> In the beautiful Blue Ridge
I agree 100%. BTW, if you see a spam with multiple replys, like this
Yngwe one, just mark the thread as read to get rid of it. Unless, of
course, you want to read every one. Which is what I used to do until my
level of annoyance exceeded my curiosity!
--
Jon Smorada
pghs...@tristate.pgh.net
http://tristate.pgh.net/~pghstlmn
"When the people lead, the leaders will follow..."
Bill Hatcher
I WAS an AOL subscriber. I really enjoyed and miss the PSG group and
other musical groups there. I swapped over because of price and now
AOL has reduced their rate to $19.95 a month, same as I have paid for
about a year now. BUT!!, I was watching A CNN business report the
other day and they were talking aboat AOL. Seems they are now
preparing to charge their subscribers for certain services that are
now free with the unlimited monthly service. AOL is a big corp. They
will try to get every dime they can out of their membership, because
that is what they have been doing for years!! The AOL membership is
in for some fee increases. I would not be surprised to see a small
fee to access the newsgroups or the classifieds or all the other AOL
exclusive areas. There was info on being able to access AOL through
your own provider. Price started at $5.95 a month. By the time it
was instituted the price had gone up to $9.95. I bet it does not stay
there long! Regards. Bill Hatcher
Bob Lee
Paul Franklin <pau...@usit.net> wrote
>
>Bob,
> I have never read any steel magazine that even comes
>close to giving you the info that you recieve from the AOL
>afford AOL just for the Steel forum alone you would be
>learning how to play I could have gotten my questions
>answered almost instantly. This is whats happening over
>charge for getting a limited AOL subscription.
Well, I don't want this to turn into a competition or anything. I put up
the web forum because I didn't feel that this newsgroup adequately
addressed the needs of steel players <b>on the Internet</b>. The AOL
newsgroup is not on the Internet, and many people cannot access it at all.
I was an AOL subscriber for several years, and though I enjoyed the steel
forum there I was disappointed with every other aspect of the AOL
experience. Recently they even solicited me BY PHONE. I hate that shit -
interruptions at the dinner hour asking you to subscribe to a newspaper or
donate to MADD. Isn't it bad enough that that clutter my post office box
at least once a month with their useless "free" software?
I'm sorry Paul, but I don't respond well to aggressive marketing blitzes.
No, make that "I respond NEGATIVELY to agressive marketing". The fact that
AOL is blocking my Web site makes it even worse. They've actively pissed
me off. There's nothing I can do about it, of course, but I sure as hell
am not going to give them any money.
Henry K. Miller
O.K., my curiosity is certainly aroused. Paul Franklin has favorably
compared the AOL forum to the published steel guitars magazines and
newsletters. Hence, it certainly seems to be worthwhile. On the other hand,
all AOL subscribers (I believe) have access to the internet newsgroups, but
not all "internetters" have access to AOL.
Since we all want the same thing--access to lots of good ideas, info, tab,
suggestions, comraderie, etc. Wouldn't it make sense to move the AOL forum
onto the internet where everyone could have access at no extra cost? I
know, the SPAM is annoying, but can be worked around. Further, it has been
suggested that moving out of the "alt." category would reduce this, at
least to some extent. Obviously, Bobby's web page forum is another possible
alternative.
The problem seems to be getting all of us "steel-heads" to agree on where,
when and how. Any good ideas?
Hank
==========
--
Henry K. Miller
Chesapeake Cues, Ltd.
International Brokers of Fine Cues
(410) 581-7341
Fax: (410) 363-6362
http://www.cuemaster.com/showcase.htm
http://www.wwcollectibles.com/rare/cue/index.html
MPerlowin
Henry Miller wrote <<Wouldn't it make sense to move the AOL forum>>
The AOL steel guitar forum isn't something AOL did, It was started by the
players themselves. (Well one player actually.) AOL allows the members to
start their own folders/forums. Some die from lack of participation while
others thrive because of a lot of interest.
We have a good thing going over there, and I'm sure I speak for all the
other participants when I invite all you to join us. But that's what
you're going to have to do. Join us, because we're not giving up what
we've got.
Some of you can't join AOL for one reason or another, but I'm sure there
are those of you who can, but simply choose not to. That is of course your
choice, but in making that choice you are denying yourself access to a
very happening group of steelers actively swapping information in a
nurturing and supportive and spam free environment.
Granted, AOL has it's problems, but I feel it's worth putting up with them
in order to access this fine group.
Mike Perlowin, Los Angeles
Maria Franklin
"Bob Lee" <qua...@wco.com> wrote:
>Well, I don't want this to turn into a competition or anything. I put up
>the web forum because I didn't feel that this newsgroup adequately
>addressed the needs of steel players <b>on the Internet</b>. The AOL
>newsgroup is not on the Internet, and many people cannot access it at all.
>I was an AOL subscriber for several years, and though I enjoyed the steel
>forum there I was disappointed with every other aspect of the AOL
>experience. Recently they even solicited me BY PHONE. I hate that shit -
>interruptions at the dinner hour asking you to subscribe to a newspaper or
>donate to MADD. Isn't it bad enough that that clutter my post office box
>at least once a month with their useless "free" software?
>
>I'm sorry Paul, but I don't respond well to aggressive marketing blitzes.
>No, make that "I respond NEGATIVELY to agressive marketing". The fact that
>AOL is blocking my Web site makes it even worse. They've actively pissed
>me off. There's nothing I can do about it, of course, but I sure as hell
>am not going to give them any money.
Hey Bob,
Why are you directing your anger with AOL
towards me and all the others who happen
to love the AOL steel forum and could care
less about anything else AOL does or about
what it has to offer.
There has been so much spam here lately. So
I too, was trying to do everyone here a favor
by informing them that AOL's rates had gone way
down. Whether you like AOL or not, the steel guitar
group over there is happening and I was trying to
inform others whom might not know about it at all.
In case they might be just as frustrated with the spam
here as I am. Thats all I was saying!
Whether AOL accesses your page or not has nothing
to do with how informative the AOL group of steel
guitarists are or my post about it.
Excuse me for trying to pass on some info about it...PF
Maria Franklin
My original intent was to say that
it is now alot cheaper than ever before to
subscribe to AOL. It was an invitation to check our
steel forum out.
I don't think there will ever be
just one group in cyberspace. If we should isolate only
to one group then maybe while we are at it we should
all play Bluegrass, All play the same brand,
the same copedant, the same tuning,
do away with tablature, read music only for learning.
This might make it easier for some but it doesn't
fit the needs of others. I like this newsgroup as well as
all the wonderful web pages.
My feeling is this. If you can
afford information. Buy as much as you can absorb.
If you can't check them all out and choose the best for you.
If I had to choose one it would be the AOL forum.
We are growing if we are in many different areas of cyberspace
and dying on the vine if we narrow ourselves to one newsgroup.
PF
Robert Shanks
In article <01bbf82c$f1ff23e0$e34b...@cues.erols.com> Henry K. Miller,>suggestions, comraderie, etc. Wouldn't it make sense to move the AOL
forum
>onto the internet where everyone could have access at no extra cost? I
>know, the SPAM is annoying, but can be worked around. Further, it has
been
>suggested that moving out of the "alt." category would reduce this, at
>least to some extent.
I agree totally. I hit the newsgroups daily, but just don't seem to get
around to AOL. I think it may have to to with the news reader on AOL -
extremely frustrating! I can cruze through a hundred messages with
Nuntius quickly. But with AOL it is PAINFUL!
I know what sorta good stuff I'm missing - it's just not worth it!
- Robert
Frank Sereno
MPerlowin wrote:
>
> Henry Miller wrote <<Wouldn't it make sense to move the AOL forum>>
> The AOL steel guitar forum isn't something AOL did, It was started by the
> players themselves. (Well one player actually.) AOL allows the members to
> start their own folders/forums. Some die from lack of participation while
> others thrive because of a lot of interest.
>
> We have a good thing going over there, and I'm sure I speak for all the
> other participants when I invite all you to join us. But that's what
> you're going to have to do. Join us, because we're not giving up what
> we've got.
>
> Some of you can't join AOL for one reason or another, but I'm sure there
> are those of you who can, but simply choose not to. That is of course your
> choice, but in making that choice you are denying yourself access to a
> very happening group of steelers actively swapping information in a
> nurturing and supportive and spam free environment.
>
> Granted, AOL has it's problems, but I feel it's worth putting up with them
> in order to access this fine group.
> Mike Perlowin, Los Angeles
Does AOL hold a copyright to the messages posted on that service or
could you gentlemen post those messages here in alt.guitar.lap-pedal for
those of us who are too damn cheap to, cannot or will not access AOL?
I've said it before, I'll say it again. If more people participated in
this newsgroup, the spam ratio would drop dramatically. We can make or
break this newsgroup. Seems like several people have decided to break
it without trying all that hard to make it something better.
Steelpickn
A couple of posts noted that AOL lowest price was 9.95 a month for 5 hrs;
they also have a deal for 4.95 a month for 3 hrs which isn't too bad, if
you just
want to keep up with the steel forum. I think that both forums ( plus now
bOb Lee's new message area) have their place; hopefully they all can
co-exist.
Mike
MPerlowin
I have thrown the question of re-posting to the forum. If EVERYBODY
agrees, then it will be done, but if anybody objects, then in all fairness
to having his or her words re-posted here, we must abide by their wishes.
I've also suggested that perhaps the participants there might care to
re-post their individual postings here. This might be a better way for
those of you who can't access the forum to hear what we are saying.
Or, many of you could simply open an AOL account and join the fun. (And
no, I don't work for AOL or own stock in the company.) Mike
Maria Franklin
Frank Sereno <fse...@matrix.uti.com> wrote:
>Does AOL hold a copyright to the messages posted on that service or
>could you gentlemen post those messages here in alt.guitar.lap-pedal for
>those of us who are too damn cheap to, cannot or will not access AOL?
>
>I've said it before, I'll say it again. If more people participated in
>this newsgroup, the spam ratio would drop dramatically. We can make or
>break this newsgroup. Seems like several people have decided to break
>it without trying all that hard to make it something better.
Frank,
I'm curious! Exactly who is trying
to break this group. I've read posts from
those who advocate eliminating the AOL forum
but nothing like what you suggest.
I believe AOL owns the rights to their
music forums.
What you suggest is the same as making copies
of SGW and sending them out to everyone. To me
that would make us all look pretty bad and it is
definately not fair to those that ARE paying to
participate there........PF
MPerlowin
I have thriown out the question, and the general feeling is that most
people don't want things re-posted over here. Conmsequently I will not
re-post anything.
I've suggested that players might choose to re-post their own posting over
here , but that is up to each player.
Once again, I know I speak for everybody when I invite you all to join us.
Mike.
Jeff Mead
Hi Guys,
I've been following this thread and, as I see it, the AOL guys have no
intention of abandoning their long established forum and the non-AOL
folk are probably not going to take out an AOL subscription just for one
group - however good it is.
I agree that simply re-posting every article in the other group would
probably lead to complete chaos (especially if more than one person
started doing it!). The Web page forum is great, but can't be read
offline easily (I follow most of the newsgroups on the train to work).
How about this idea?
If you see an interesting thread on one of the forums but not the other,
why not just start up the same thread on the other group? You can
paraphrase the original posting if you are worried about the AOL legal
eagles. You could also relay some of the better ideas back to the other
group by saying "I discussed this with the a.g.l-p group and someone
suggested...".
This way, both groups benefit from a much wider input and people reading
both forums aren't reading the same posts over and over again (except
from the odd "summary" of what the other group said).
The thing I have noticed here at a.g.l-p is that, once a thread has been
started, there is often a lot of lively discussion, but folk aren't so
quick at starting new ones. If we could "borrow" a few threads from our
AOL cousins we might get the group really rocking.
_ __ __
(_) / _|/ _|
_ ___| |_| |_
| |/ _ \ _| _|
| | __/ | | |
| |\___|_| |_|
_/ |
|__/ je...@bayou.demon.co.uk
dean...@aol.com
In article <nxI3tJAo...@bayou.demon.co.uk>, Jeff Mead
<Je...@bayou.demon.co.uk> writes:
>How about this idea?
>
>If you see an interesting thread on one of the forums but not the other,
>why not just start up the same thread on the other group?
I'm sorry Jeff, but you are simply too intelligent for either one of these
forums...
All kidding aside, I think your suggestion is good and that we can all
move on now... get on with the business of talking about steel guitar
issues!
Bob Lee
Maria Franklin <mari...@usit.net> wrote in article
<5afgf1$j...@news.usit.net>...
> "Bob Lee" <qua...@wco.com> wrote:
> >
> >I'm sorry Paul, but I don't respond well to aggressive marketing
blitzes.
> >No, make that "I respond NEGATIVELY to agressive marketing". The fact
that
> >AOL is blocking my Web site makes it even worse. They've actively
pissed
> >me off. There's nothing I can do about it, of course, but I sure as
hell
> >am not going to give them any money.
>
> Hey Bob,
> Why are you directing your anger with AOL
> towards me and all the others who happen
> to love the AOL steel forum and could care
> less about anything else AOL does or about
> what it has to offer.
I'm not mad at you or any other steelers, Paul. Sorry if I gave that
impression.
> There has been so much spam here lately. So
> I too, was trying to do everyone here a favor
> by informing them that AOL's rates had gone way
> down.
When I was a member, it was $9.95/month. It's less than that now, that's
true.
> Whether you like AOL or not, the steel guitar
> group over there is happening and I was trying to
> inform others whom might not know about it at all.
> In case they might be just as frustrated with the spam
> here as I am. Thats all I was saying!
Fine. Can we drop the subject?
> Whether AOL accesses your page or not has nothing
> to do with how informative the AOL group of steel
> guitarists are or my post about it.
That's true.
> Excuse me for trying to pass on some info about it...PF
Sorry, Paul. I didn't mean to flame any person.
I was mad at a huge, faceless, unresponsive corporation who had been
ignoring my email about a problem with their software for 2 weeks. They
never did respond. In the end they fixed the problem, though, so I'm not
mad anymore.
Can we PLEASE drop the subject? I didn't mean to start any controversy.
If you, dear reader, are as tired as I am of this tread, please do not
respond. Let it die.