Frank, Mike: about forums: do they really make any difference?
I'm coming from a different direction here, but one area where there is a bewildering array of forums is wireless.
Everybody's got a forum, consortium, group, whatever. If a group of players becomes disenchanted , they get together, and make a forum. Occasionally, opposing forum members break out into open disagreement, and start lobbing verbal grenades. Whole industries become Balkanized.
These things seem to exist in parallel to bodies such as the ITU and IEEE. which, one would think, are designed to eliminate the need for such bodies.
I don't have much history on this stuff; Frank, I find your observations on LU's 'typical' behaviour interesting. After years of watching such things, I guess one can see a player's 'style'.
Ray had a comment re: the VOFDM consortium recently, which I found noteworthy: that "winners make their own rules". Fine; then why bother with the pretense of a 'forum'?
Do these things have any rationale for their existence, or are they simply a point of coalescence for like-minded companies?
Do they do any good (or harm)? Or are they merely marketing/political bodies? |
