----- Original Message ----- From: "M H Stein" <dm561 at torfree.net> To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:08 PM Subject: Re: Ten Year Rule I bet somebody wanted to start a thread and was unsure if the powers that be will complain about the subject so the ten year rule thread came about again. Last time around I think Win 3.1 was legit to talk about, or at least something of that vintage. Honestly I tend to talk about that OS and relevant hardware in forums where other people appreciate it, but I bet plenty of people here have vast knowledge (but probably no love for it) because they had to use it for work. Everybody has that bit of hardware that was marveled at when they were young and could not afford to buy, house, and power it. So when people get older and technology gets obsolete they indulge in buying that old stuff to play with. Few "kids" today have a clue what a mainframe is or why they would even want one because they have zero history or knowledge of the stuff (outside of a 60's B&W film on TBS at 2AM with a rack of real to real tape drives spinning in the background). While younger people might like newer systems then what some people here care about, everyone has the same problem of how to get their systems running, keeping them running, finding software, replacement parts, troubleshooting tips, backup storage etc. So there is something in common between the generations that can be passed on in the hobby. Remember that these kids are the ones who will keep any knowledge that you generate alive for other generations to know about, in return you need to encourage them to get into the hobby and to appreciate the stuff you care about while helping them with stuff they care about. A hard cutoff in topics on this list will just serve to kill the list slowly (look how many posts we had in the last day from people who rarely contribute) and with that flush all the archiving done to date when the next generation doesn't feel like paying for storage (real and online) for some old fogies junk and recycles it all. The relationship should be like an old expert wood craftsman showing the younger generation what quality is like working with hand tools and real hardwood while the younger generation shows the older one what they can do with power tools, CNC machines and composite materials.

M H Stein wrote: As one of the moderators there, I'm going to disagree with you. It is a 'vintage' computer forum. Something that can run a current version of Linux would probably be off topic. The difference is that we shuffle it to an off-topic area instead of just ranting about what is on-topic or off topic for days on end. Mike