Posted by Peter Ceresole on December 08, 2005 at 08:51:17 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Industrial Heritage (was Lydia Eva - was Re: Silting of the Yare)-the whole question of Ransome posted by Peter H on December 07, 2005 at 20:45:48:
I am also aware that many adults read AR with no adverse effects. However, the frequency of 'adverse effects' among AR readers seems to me to be too great to be a general average.
I think that the main distinguishing feature here- certainly as important as reading AR- is posting to a Net forum. I used to post quite a lot on Usenet; newsgroups aren't technically the same as a forum like this one, but the similarities are considerable. On some newsgroups, standards of behaviour are simply abominable and I'm sure that Adam Quinan is right in what he identifies as the reasons for this. All forums have their ups and downs, but Tarboard is in general a haven of sensible and peaceable discourse. It's why I like to read it, and occasionally post here. The content doesn't have to be childish or even child-friendly; I enjoy the books and am interested in discussing why, and also what might have motivated AR to write what he did. The historical and class background are interesting in themselves, and a little train spotting does no harm either.
As for the Usenet groups, in the end I have stuck with very few of them. Most are ostensibly technical groups. The ones I have stuck with are also, with minor exceptions, havens of politeness and friendly fun. By what is probably no coincidence at all, they are to do with using Macintosh computers. What more is there to say?