"Gene Seibel" wrote in message
ups.com...

Before everyone starts thinking how all-fired important it is what
they think and what goes on here, it might be good to realize that
probably 700,000 + pilots in this country don't even know this group
exists and they get along just fine.

FYI, there are a little less than 600K pilots in this country...

No one is going to commit suicide if this group goes away. Your post has a
condescending tone so I must ask why you participate in this group if you
think it is of such little importance.

Public forums are only as good as the participants' contributions. The
groups encompassing r.a.piloting, r.a.owning, r.a.student, and r.a.ifr are
some of the most active and appreciated groups in the system. It became that
way because the posters [in general] spend lots of time to craft thoughtful,
on-topic, and courteous posts that allow others to learn a little something
and keep everyone coming back. You've posted many quality, though-provoking
posts to these groups Gene, so you've helped create these groups as well. I
would think that time you spent has been of some value to you.

When a single poster creates such a disturbence (rightly or wrongly) that it
drives many--if not most--of the quality posters away, the folks who've
spent that time to make these groups what they are have a legitimate gripe.

Losing quality participants is equivalent to killing the group. The
different reactions we see from all these folks are just the different ways
that people fight for what is of value to them.

Marco