What I would really like to see...

Back in the mid to late 90's.

Back before Web BBS.

In a time when everyone was using Matt's World Wide Web Board (wwwboard).

Tony's board (Tony Blake that is). The subject matter was offline. Direct mail, classified ads, and so on.

As interest - and question asking - about those topics dwindled and interest - and question asking - in all things online increased, the board gradually changed. A natural progression.

There was not single defining moment when you could say, "This board is now about online with a smattering of offline instead of vice versa." Just like there is no single defining moment when we can say night has turned to day or day to night - even though we can clearly see the differences between the two.

There are a lot of us who grew our business teeth offline. Who have sold face-to-face. Who have made cold calls. Written sales letters and sent them in real envelopes with real stamps on them.

But due to the nature of these boards... those with the offline knowledge - gained from the school of hard knocks - need someone interested enough in the topic to ask a question. So they can thus answer it.

We have some real good discussions here when such an offline topic raises its head. But those topics are all too soon overshadowed by online related questions. You know. The old, "Where can I get a merchant account" (which we don't get too much of here at sowpub), autoresponders, website reviews, how do I use this piece of software, etc.

I believe Mike Rodman's forum - http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/166590?cpmfpa=s - is a step in that direction. A step in the direction of old.

Michael Ross


Where offline and online meet