I really appreciated Robbie's & Jody's comments to Steve Jelovac's
posting in 160212 MMDigest.  Steve wrote:

> In the end run I look at it this way: it is a little selfish not to
> want to move on, its tantamount to living on a farm and telling your
> children, "Hey, you will use that plough over there and go torture
> the horse, and under no circumstance will you use that tractor!"

Well, I respectfully disagree with you on that, although I will admit,
I _am_ probably being a little selfish to want stuff that works on
dial-up, as I am stuck in that arena.  To give you an idea of the
rural-ness that I'm in, just now an oversized load went by on the
paved road, at about two miles an hour, if that, and there was no one,
in either direction, waiting to pass them; they may be the most traffic
I will see all day!

The idea that one must "progress" is fairly recent in human history.
Change is not necessarily progress -- sometimes it's just change.
I belong to another group that is a forum, and it has to be accessed
via the Web, not via email; however, it is running on an antiquated
software that is no longer supported.  Fortunately the forum manager
keeps it working.

There is an identical forum from the other national club (I am
talking about Model T Fords, with two similar, but different clubs,
"Model T Ford Club of America" and "Model T Ford Club International")
that upgraded their software to the "new & improved & most popular"
software.

The old forum gets multiple posts per day, over 25 at least; the new
forum, maybe 5 or 10.  Why?  because the old forum is simpler and
easier to use.  Yes, it's harder to post pictures on, but it can be
done and most of us members are used to it -- and more than willing
to explain the process to new members.  Many surveys have been done
and the overwhelming response is "Stick to this until it won't work!"
That forum gains new members almost daily, so being "old fashioned,
obsolete, etc." isn't necessarily a limiting factor; ease of use is.

The Mechanical Music Digest is like that; in my opinion it's fairly
easy to use and lots of good information is there.  Granted, we are
probably a declining hobby, but changing forum software is not likely
going to change that.  Unless one can find a verifiable reason that the
current system is hindering new membership, changing the format to be
"in step" is not, in my opinion, valid.

Carry on! :)

David Dewey
Oroville, California, USA
(Yes, parts of California are rural & aren't near a beach!)