From: sailorterra@gov.crystaltokyo.jp   
      
   On 2009-01-05 09:17:23 +0900, The Wanderer  said:   
      
   > I make no comment about the show's relative level of ongoing popularity   
   > in Japan; the ebb and flow of such things over there is generally quite   
   > a separate thing from the trends in the regions which tend to feed   
   > primarily-English-speaking fora such as this newsgroup (or most Web   
   > forums which might be proffered as replacements).   
      
   Honestly I disagree with your logical leap there. And that takes me   
   back to my argument of how AFSM, and newsgroups like it, are generally   
   dead. Usenet for discussion (let's leave aside binaries, which as we   
   know, is thriving) is dead because only the most dedicated (or those   
   who want binaries badly enough and somehow trickle over to discussion)   
   will bother finding out if they have news access through their ISP (I   
   don't, and it took me a while to figure out that I didn't), probably   
   don't, then go on to find a commercial/public server, probably have to   
   pay for it, get a reader, set it up manually... IF, and this a is a big   
   IF, they are even veteran enough to know what news access is to begin   
   with. As has even been stated here google news isn't even well known as   
   an alternative. DejaNews was substantially more active.   
      
   For any new fans that have appeared, and probability says simply that   
   there must be at least a few, the likelihood they will make it HERE   
   seems very, very low to me because of the barriers inherent in their   
   internet knowledge. I have not done a search to find out if there are   
   active Sailor Moon forums in English, but I would bet the ones that   
   exist are more active than AFSM!   
      
   I still believe the issue is that fandom is fractured without the   
   institutional knowledge of where to locate other segments of the   
   fandom. In that way the technology of usenet works against AFSM ever   
   being a focal point for said fandom again. Not without a concentrated   
   effort by those still aware of it, ie, us.   
      
   Which basically means, back to a question I asked, but I feel I got   
   roundabout answers to, which is do you want a Sailor Moon community to   
   exist? If you do, then whatever the reason for the decline of this   
   particular community, popularity or technology, shouldn't you want to   
   do anything which makes it stronger?   
      
   To be blunt, I'm feeling a general "eh, whatever" reaction from most of   
   the respondents so far. If I am being unfair, my apologies. Tell me why   
   I am misreading you. More importantly, tell me what you are willing to   
   do.   
      
   > If SM is still popular in Japan, I consider that a good thing, and it's   
   > possible that the online discussion forums in that language are still   
   > alive and going strong. It just doesn't seem to have retained any   
   > significant degree of interest over on the American side of that pond.   
      
   Some of the merchandise I have run across is new. It is still easy to   
   find any given SM merchandise here, even in a town as small as the one   
   I currently live in. I don't need to go to Osaka or Tokyo to get SM   
   merchandise.   
      
   My Canadian friends tell me that SM is still popular there. And that   
   indeed, Sailor Moon cosplayers are still quite common.   
      
   > Kind of, yes, if not to perhaps quite that extent. Still, there were   
   > quite a few people from quite a few contexts posting here back during   
   > the last periods of noticeable activity, and PGSM got a lot of   
   > attention from areas I wouldn't have considered part of the hardcore   
   > fanbase.   
      
   Which probably explains why that did not last very long, I guess.   
      
   > Even most of the hardcore fanbase, however, seems to have moved on, and   
   > certainly no one who isn't (or wasn't) a hardcore fan is likely to still   
   > be paying attention in these fora - and without any developments to   
   > discuss, there really doesn't seem to be much impetus for us to post   
   > very much.   
      
   So in essence, you are saying "eh, whatever," at least that very much   
   is how it sounds to me.   
      
   > As I said, DP might be a poor example for one reason or another. I   
   > considered mentioning several other things in that slot - Macross,   
   > Ranma, a few others I don't remember names of offhand, and a few others   
   > I couldn't remember names for even at the time - but couldn't be certain   
   > enough that they now got little enough attention to support my point.   
   > (Part of the trouble is that series which get little enough attention to   
   > be examples are also series which I'm unlikely to remember well enough   
   > to name.)   
      
      
   > KOR is something I've heard good things about for a decade or more, and   
   > have been meaning to get around to one of these years, but have never   
   > really gotten off of square one on.   
      
      
   I am in an extreme minority (like, uh, five us at my level worldwide?),   
   but I value KOR in ways I value no other series of anything. I am not   
   really an otaku for anything, but KOR I most definitely am. I have a   
   substantial collection of KOR merchandise. Not easy as it is so hard to   
   find. I've spent roughly $3500 on KOR.   
      
   Simply saying I recommend it is woefully inadequate.   
      
      
   > And/or people who weren't more than - "casually" isn't quite the right   
   > word - interested in the first place, or who were strongly interested   
   > but not enough so to hold their attention after other things came along   
   > and SM wasn't "coming along" (doing new things) anymore.   
      
   I don't know. I guess my interests just have never really changed.   
   Fandom involvement wise, Sailor Moon, Utena, and KOR. That was true   
   eleven years ago, it's true today. I watch tons of anime, and there   
   have been several series over the intervening decade I have indeed   
   enjoyed. Recently Hidamari Sketch, Ef - Tale of Memories, Angel Heart,   
   Macross Frontier... But I don't feel compelled to run around looking   
   for discussions about any of those series. And I pretty much only buy   
   KOR merchandise. I did buy a Hidamari Sketch artbook, and it is one of   
   only two non-KOR art books I own. The others is a rare 80s item I   
   picked up because it was an rare 80s item.   
      
   I go through involvement activity fluxuations, but if I really like   
   something I never stop really liking it.   
      
   > I don't think it's necessarily a good thing that things get dropped that   
   > way, but I do recognize that it is what tends to happen.   
      
   Then I suppose I ask again, what do you intend to do about it, if anything?   
      
   > Of course, it's possible that I'm wrong, or even that I've just missed   
   > some of the activity which would indicate that it isn't quite that far   
   > gone yet. I just don't think that's very likely.   
      
   I think you're being overly pessimistic.   
      
   > I subscribe to the FFML (and was party to the r.a.a.fandom discussion   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)