The Linda Barlows and Holly Ambroses of the world seem to have 
something to say when they delurk. This, with much good supporting 
text snipped,  was from Linda:
> all those people on Prodigy and AOL and Delphi,
> and those soon to be signed up 500,000 on MSN whose idea of how to spend
> their time on the Internet does not necessarily include intellectual
> discussion.  There are a lot more of them out there than there are of us.

Bingo. We pride ourselves on great news reporting, but many copies of 
our newspapers are bought for coupons, or comics, or crossword 
puzzles. Earlier, I thought I did great service to my community as a radio 
talk show host and as a newscaster, but more people listened for rock 
n' roll music. And this medium is not all that different.

It may be our role to provide the "redeeming social value" for those 
who stop at our sites on a brief respite from their Moos or Muds or 
alt.picutures.of.God.knows.what. OTH, profitability on this here 
new-fangled medium just may require our reaching ALL these folks.
We will need to keep ladders handy, so that we can dismount from our 
high horses when necessary.

- --Roger


> 
> Sorry folks are so irritated at the thought that there might be shy and/or
> intimidated people out there in cyberspace, but hey, it's a fact.  Most of
> us on THIS list are professional writers, and very comfortable typing our
> words onto a computer screen.  That is not likely to be the case with the
> average home PC user who buys a new Pentium and plugs in one of her many AOL
> disks or clicks on the icon to join MSN.
> 
> Presumably those of us who are concerned with the "bread and butter" issues
> of the Net are going to have to learn to understand THAT audience a lot
> better than we understand THIS one...
> 
> 
> Linda R. Barlow
> Novelist, Warner Books and Dutton/Penquin
> Consultant, Monash Information Services
> 
> 

Roger M. Ulrich (rulrich@epix.net)
Employed by (but not speaking for) Reading Eagle Company
P.O. Box 582, Reading, Pa., 19603, U.S.
http://www.epix.net/~rulrich/


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End of online-news-digest V1 #285
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