I've been on a couple mail lists that were sort of pre-forum and only evolved when the guy running the servers decided to not do that anymore. So they moved to google groups. Both bicycle related.
Plus a few others.
One for framebuilders was really great, lots of very experienced people with sound advice. Then framebuilding got popular, and so did the ill advised used of large waterjet cut stainless names brazed onto the thin part of the tube. Massive heat affected zone, Stress risers... a beginner might get away with it on thick wall non- heat treated tubing, but these kids wanted to use the cutting edge stuff that is not forgiving of mistakes. When five guys all with 30+ years of experience say it's a dumb idea, it probably is.
"You old guys are just trying to keep young creative guys down"
Oh, and along with the bad ideas and attitude.... Insurance is for suckers!
So most of the people with a clue left. Now it's mostly people with a clue who are new ish, but sane. And instead of 15-20 interesting messages a day it's more like 5-10 a week.
The other focuses on fancy bikes, either racing or touring. There's a soft cutoff at 1983, so more modern material are out - sort of- but if it was made yesterday using steel and traditional means and design it's ok. They like older bikes, but it's very mid 1960's to 1983 focused. I've been a member since something like 2000?
I used to read every message. Now, not even every digest. The stuff I'm most interested in started in 83. And even I run out of fascination with "you say your bike is a 1972, but it can't be because they didn't use that more rounded fork crown until 1973"
Ah, but for 73 they used slightly different lugs! so it's a 72! "
ETC...
I'm on a couple other bike boards, but rarely read them. Most of the posts are like "I found this old bike under my porch, it says Murray, and I can't find much about them online so it must be RARE!!!! Some one sawed it in half, what's the best way to fix it. Insert pic of half of something that may have been a bike before the rust gods looked on it with displeasure...
Ok, maybe not that bad, but think of the worst of the Daily "poppage" stuff from the CU only slightly dumber.
I read thee stamp message boards,
One is pretty good, a mix of stupid posts and ones with more interesting content.
Another is really good, especially for Australian stamps. But the owner is.... The anti-Leon. He has at least four accounts, and some insanely pedantic rules about things. And is argumentative, and will argue pretty rudely from all of his accounts if he doesn't like a poster. The mods are just as bad, but mostly police whether a picture (which is MANDATORY) is posted in their approved way, or as an attachment, which puts an "annoying white frame around the picture" - that I barely notice, but apparently doing that makes you nearly as bad as a stamp forger (Or card trimmer)
The third is a really good one, mostly about postal history. It can get simultaneously fascinating and lapse into a coma dull all at once.
Like the epic argument between a couple experts about whether a letter sent from Burma on a particular day early in WWII went to the UK via the US and /or Canada. Or if it went through India to Tehran then Gibraltar OR if it couldn't have because Tehran was closed starting that day so it must have gone by way of India/Baghdad/Gibraltar/UK..... Those may not be the exact routes, I may have mentally blocked some of it.
But they've always patiently answered my beginner questions, and in one case had an answer about an atypical version of a rare cover from the primary expert in under an hour.
(Sort of like here only well, it's stamps, so a bit less "exciting" )
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