Questionz

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 01:24:28 -0500, Cory's nimble, little paws typed:


There isn't any way possible for RPCC to continue its traditions without
any change at all. Kitties come and go now, for whatever reason, on an
almost routine basis. There are many, many, many reasons for that.

gennle snippy

RPCC is NOT the same group that it was back in the day when it was RPC,
and we had to preface our headers with "MEOW", so that those that wanted
to filter out our meowchat could do so. Some people will say that in
some ways, RPCC is a better group. Some will say that, in some ways,
it's not as fun for some people (having said this, there ARE valid
reasons that some RPC folks stopped posting, other than it just wasn't
fun anymore [lost internet access at work... don't have the time
anymore... there are even some people who still cannot access RPCC
through their ISP or newsgroup provider, even though it's been around
for a long time now. Some news feeds just don't carry it.]). I
personally prefer to just think that RPCC is different these days... not
in terms of "better" or "worse".

You also have to remember, too, that people change as they grow older.
What was once upon a time fun just isn't anymore... not because it's
turned "bad", so to speak, but because the people have simply outgrown
that kind of fun (which is what I think has happened to me, to some
degree, as I've gotten older). Another reason things have changed is
because kitties' likes and dislikes change over time, as well, not to
mention that there ARE a LOT of newer kitties in the newsgroup. That,
right there, will "shift" the interests of the group, and that's not a
bad thing at all, I feel.

Indeed, Unka Cory, I agrees wif dis.

Every kitty and hooman that *posts* here
should feel welcome and have fun being here, and if that isn't the case
for you anymore, then it's time to bow out gracefully, rather than
ruining a fun time for everyone else.


--- Unca Cory

A furry insitefull post, Unka Cory datz rite on! Fings grow an change
becawze dat'z the flow ov life.

An itz impurrtant to catsider da size of da groop: dere are purrhaps
12 hoomanz at most who post and participate in 'venturez an da like
durink da yeer, an mabee six or eight on any giffen day. An dis makes
it hard to keep da groop alive...

Fangu fur postink dis; it was gud to heer a voice ov reason.
--
Purrs,

Mme. Anaïs
11/3/2007 1:45:34 PM

Binkley (RB), Opus (RB) and Frieda (RB) always thought so, dey were
round before da split, an past on lots of storiez. Weze think dis is a
furry magical place too, Margaret.

Booker, Chappy and Snowflake

Ms. Tess wrote:

RPCC is and always has been a magical place.

Margaret

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 13:08:00 -0600, "squiffer"
wrote:


Do Meitze really want to retire? Maybe Meitze thinks other kitties thinks
she shood retire? Inkwiring kat wants to know.
Burt

Dis kitty do NOT want Mietze tu retire. Shood dere be a petition?

Tess
:
: Deer Mietze,
:
: I just wants tu fank you an Anti Melissa fur all yur gudgud werk offur
: da yeers. Da Jellicle Ball iz furry important tu ourz kommunity an da
: Calling ov Names iz da most solemnist moment ov da yeer.
:
: Yu hab earned yur retirement an it will be furry hard fur anykitty tu
: fill yur pawprints.
:
: An I hopes yu rilly know dat yu didn make eny mistake, da kommunity
: counted on yu tu do it fur uz.
:
: Tess, raising a glass of nipwine to toast Mietze and Melissa
:
: The mistake I made was not asking after every Ball whether anyone else
: wanted to do it, but instead went right back to collecting names,
: caught in the circle. It's meant a lot to me to perform what I
: believe to be a valuable service to the community, but it was never
: *mine* to keep.
:
: Mietze wasn't going to announce this for a week or two, but this is as
: good a place as any. She has retired as Gatherer and Caller of Names
: effective immediately. The position is officially open.
:
: Melissa

Ms. Tess wrote:

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 13:08:00 -0600, "squiffer"
wrote:


Do Meitze really want to retire? Maybe Meitze thinks other kitties thinks
she shood retire? Inkwiring kat wants to know.
Burt


Dis kitty do NOT want Mietze tu retire. Shood dere be a petition?

Tess

We sign:

Booker, Chappy an Snowflake

this is the type of information we need, history/why... now I guess having
read all of this we need it figure out now who will call the names next year
and who can help the new caller collect them, Lee
The Clowder (South) wrote in message
...
"Stormmee" wrote:

[small snip, but thank you and everyone who's said kind things.]

I always wondered how the ball started, how the
calling got started, Melissa is the only one I ever saw do it and I
wondered
how that came to be, if there had been someone before, why/how did it
change... just like I wondered when reading the glossary for the first
time
who could be that creative and wonderful to catalog all of that... the
point
is, I think the group is filled with love and I think that some of us are
sensitive to keeping traditions alive, and others of us want to
understand
the traditions keep them and add to the life here at the community, soft
fur
her cats

"Add to the life"....YESSSSSSS! I would *love* to see new stuff added
to the Ball.

The important thing to remember is that this is a *creation*. People
thought about things to do and then threw it out there to see what
would work, what would stick. For the first two Balls, the Calling
was just a list. I think Gretchen Marie posted them, but GM was also
doing so much else for the Ball, (and has ever since...now *she*, and
her successor Little Kitty deserve an enormous amount of credit and
applause) and nothing was said about the Calling and who was going to
do it for the third Ball.

So, Mietze volunteered, and added a speech. The idea was to make the
Calling also a brief Tribute to all of the Honorees on the list, in
case some didn't have individual Tributes in the days that followed.

Another idea, which came along later (but not much later) was Laura
Ann's guestbook, now done by the current spokeskitty from Laura's
House. It's one of those ideas that stuck, people have fun with it,
and, after Laura died it's become a small tribute in itself to her.
As far as I'm concerned, it belongs to that House to do until they
choose to hand it off, or the Ball is discontinued, because they
created it in the first place.

I thought it was a lovely touch, having Piglet join Ralph & Kissa at
the table this year.

Melissa

--
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very interesting, thanks, Lee
The Clowder (South) wrote in message
...
"Stormmee" wrote:

I find that interesting and I just guess you had to be there, why were
there
flame wars? was it an issue as to splitting in the first place or was it
an
issue as to how to split? soft

I got internet access in 93 or 94, and one of my happiest discoveries
(and first addiction) was rec.pets.cats. It was a busy group then,
and this was a couple of years before AOL offered Usenet access,
before the big ISPs like Earthlink and the rest existed. People were
online mostly through school, work, or if they were lucky enough that
a local provider existed in their area.

Round about 95 or 96, access started to be easier to obtain, more
people got online via home computers, and Usenet groups across the
board got measurably more active. *Everything* about cats was
discussed in rec.pets.cats, and in 95 some of the regulars started
amusing themselves by having the cats take over the keyboard and talk
to each other. This did *not* amuse some of the other users. As the
Mietze would say...oh no, not wun bit!. In order to circumvent some
of the complaints, the word "MEOW" was added to the each header so
that users who didn't want their serious stuff cluttered up could use
their newsreader software to killfile those posts. Forgetting to do
this resulted in predictable, usually nasty reminders.

And so to the split. "Volume" was the official reason given. Because
groups which begin with the word "rec" are one of the "big 8" groups,
there's a whole long procedure that has to be followed to create,
split or remove one. (These are groups starting with comp, talk,
news, rec, humanities, can't think of the others offhand, but not
"alt")

There were votes on r.p.c on whether to split at all, and when those
were tallied there were enough "yes" votes to start the process. Then
the whole thing had to shifted over to one of the news.* groups where
the charters for each subgroup were hashed out, with everything
(including the names) were rejected or ok'd by the high poobahs there.
For awhile, it was looking like the meowers were going to be
sanctioned only in the *anecdotes group, which would have left us in
the same position of antagonizing those who just don't get it.

"r.p.c.meowchat" was indeed a suggested name, but was tossed (by
meowers) for the very reason Cory suggested...too much of a target. I
also think a lot of us were pretty tired of that stupid "MEOW" in the
header, it made you feel like a pariah, so why would we want the whole
group marked with a scarlet A?

My personal favorite among the suggested names was "clowder", but a
high poohbah news.groupie vetoed it because he didn't know what it
meant. Since a split was inevitable by that point (many meowers
really didn't want the split at all), "community" was the best
compromise arrived at and approved.

And that's the Cliff Notes version of how we got here. :-)

Melissa

--
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Weed syn it!

Sebastian anna Joolian hoo dont bisit much but still reed frum tym tu tym

"Ms. Tess" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 13:08:00 -0600, "squiffer"
wrote:


Do Meitze really want to retire? Maybe Meitze thinks other kitties thinks
she shood retire? Inkwiring kat wants to know.
Burt

Dis kitty do NOT want Mietze tu retire. Shood dere be a petition?

Tess
:
: Deer Mietze,
:
: I just wants tu fank you an Anti Melissa fur all yur gudgud werk offur
: da yeers. Da Jellicle Ball iz furry important tu ourz kommunity an da
: Calling ov Names iz da most solemnist moment ov da yeer.
:
: Yu hab earned yur retirement an it will be furry hard fur anykitty tu
: fill yur pawprints.
:
: An I hopes yu rilly know dat yu didn make eny mistake, da kommunity
: counted on yu tu do it fur uz.
:
: Tess, raising a glass of nipwine to toast Mietze and Melissa
:
: The mistake I made was not asking after every Ball whether anyone else
: wanted to do it, but instead went right back to collecting names,
: caught in the circle. It's meant a lot to me to perform what I
: believe to be a valuable service to the community, but it was never
: *mine* to keep.
:
: Mietze wasn't going to announce this for a week or two, but this is as
: good a place as any. She has retired as Gatherer and Caller of Names
: effective immediately. The position is officially open.
:
: Melissa

Weeze poppin in agin.

Meowmie uset tu be a regular heer an inna rpc befur da split. Mine doptid
meowmie Cygne (RB) an I tuk part in mani an adbenchure such az da Great
Cadburry Hunt and da Jet Ski Race. Princess Pasha an I effen had a whirld
wide birthday parti heer. Den stuff happin. Hoomin parintz died, noosgroop
connekshun lost at werk an at home, hoomin's toona compani maykes hur werk
harder. Weze onna a cupla kittie meowlists anna chat dere. We kame bak a
yeer or tu ago and we din no ani kitti ahardlee ani more. Itz hard tu take
part wen yoo don no ani bodi.

Sebastian

"Mme. Anaïs ^..^" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 01:24:28 -0500, Cory's nimble, little paws typed:


There isn't any way possible for RPCC to continue its traditions without
any change at all. Kitties come and go now, for whatever reason, on an
almost routine basis. There are many, many, many reasons for that.

gennle snippy

RPCC is NOT the same group that it was back in the day when it was RPC,
and we had to preface our headers with "MEOW", so that those that wanted
to filter out our meowchat could do so. Some people will say that in
some ways, RPCC is a better group. Some will say that, in some ways,
it's not as fun for some people (having said this, there ARE valid
reasons that some RPC folks stopped posting, other than it just wasn't
fun anymore [lost internet access at work... don't have the time
anymore... there are even some people who still cannot access RPCC
through their ISP or newsgroup provider, even though it's been around
for a long time now. Some news feeds just don't carry it.]). I
personally prefer to just think that RPCC is different these days... not
in terms of "better" or "worse".

You also have to remember, too, that people change as they grow older.
What was once upon a time fun just isn't anymore... not because it's
turned "bad", so to speak, but because the people have simply outgrown
that kind of fun (which is what I think has happened to me, to some
degree, as I've gotten older). Another reason things have changed is
because kitties' likes and dislikes change over time, as well, not to
mention that there ARE a LOT of newer kitties in the newsgroup. That,
right there, will "shift" the interests of the group, and that's not a
bad thing at all, I feel.

Indeed, Unka Cory, I agrees wif dis.

Every kitty and hooman that *posts* here
should feel welcome and have fun being here, and if that isn't the case
for you anymore, then it's time to bow out gracefully, rather than
ruining a fun time for everyone else.


--- Unca Cory

A furry insitefull post, Unka Cory datz rite on! Fings grow an change
becawze dat'z the flow ov life.

An itz impurrtant to catsider da size of da groop: dere are purrhaps
12 hoomanz at most who post and participate in 'venturez an da like
durink da yeer, an mabee six or eight on any giffen day. An dis makes
it hard to keep da groop alive...

Fangu fur postink dis; it was gud to heer a voice ov reason.
--
Purrs,

Mme. Anaïs
11/3/2007 1:45:34 PM

oh, wow, I'm also from the old group preceding rpcc and Unca Cory makes some
great points. Two of his points though are based on a misunderstanding.
Let me reference those two:
_____________________________________
1. An Rpcc'er wrote:

: I have been so impressed by the quality of writing that happens in our
: events, especially the Jellical Ball and wedwinks...the narratives have
been
: so meaningful, and I have been remiss in not saying so quite often. At
this
: Jellical Ball, I even cut-and-pasted much of it, to read from time to
time.
:
: I would be very happy and contented to see the traditions of rpcc
continue
: without any change at all,

Then Cory wrote:

: There isn't any way possible for RPCC to continue its traditions without
: any change at all. Kitties come and go now, for whatever reason, on an
: almost routine basis.
__________________________________________________ ____
I believe this refers to wanting to keep Meitze/Melissa in charge of the
"Calling of the names" that takes place at the Jellicle Ball and of course,
"The Walk" and that's all. All other changes are inevitable, welcome and
interesting. I also want to keep Melissa in that role.
Kathy G
__________________________________________________ _
2. Cory wrote:
:I don't mean or want to speak for any kitty or hooman, but the new
: kitties who've joined RPCC in recent years since the split ARE welcome
: here, IMNSHO. We ARE glad to have you here, and we DO want the new
: kitties to feel welcome and join in or start activities that are fun,
: not only for the rest of the group, but for the individual kitties, I
: believe.
____________________________________________
Holy Bast, Unca Cory, where on earth did you get the idea that new kitties
aren't welcome? Good grief! Of course they are. Why else did we survive
those flame wars and the battle with the officials that tried to deny us
this group? We fought to make this group a reality for all kitties who want
to meowchat. You gotta remember that war. It was hard and it was serious.
And now there is an rpccc and all meowchatters have it as their home. All is
the operative word. That would be the Old Meowchatters, the New Meowchatters
and the left-over Meowchatters.

I've been following the Wedwink and it's delightful. Did you know that the
very first Wedwink was between Dolores' Thaddeus and my Lily? Before that
everyone had winkwink bonds, but Lily's Maw, Frau Freya, was an old
fashioned cat and insisted on a wedwink, so we did it.

Anyway, I sure do hope that we are all welcome here - that was the purpose
in creating this group, after all.

KathyG
: --- Unca Cory

That's how I remember it. Somehow I got on the newsgroups at work through
Netscape. I remember how angry the non meowers got at us. We were
proficient posters back then. I remember my computer dying the week before
Sebastian and Princess Pasha's big 4th of July birthday party. I was madder
than a wet...cat! We had planned this for months! We had a spot picked
out, invitations, catering (remember S&S Catering?), it was a much work as
planning a "real" party! I ended up renting a laptop. The kitties from
Howland were the first to arrive. But I digress...

The MEOW typed in front was tried for a while but it was a pain and there
was still the volume. Then the split happened per Melissa's description
below.

Stacey

"The Clowder (South)" wrote in message
...
"Stormmee" wrote:

I find that interesting and I just guess you had to be there, why were
there
flame wars? was it an issue as to splitting in the first place or was it
an
issue as to how to split? soft

I got internet access in 93 or 94, and one of my happiest discoveries
(and first addiction) was rec.pets.cats. It was a busy group then,
and this was a couple of years before AOL offered Usenet access,
before the big ISPs like Earthlink and the rest existed. People were
online mostly through school, work, or if they were lucky enough that
a local provider existed in their area.

Round about 95 or 96, access started to be easier to obtain, more
people got online via home computers, and Usenet groups across the
board got measurably more active. *Everything* about cats was
discussed in rec.pets.cats, and in 95 some of the regulars started
amusing themselves by having the cats take over the keyboard and talk
to each other. This did *not* amuse some of the other users. As the
Mietze would say...oh no, not wun bit!. In order to circumvent some
of the complaints, the word "MEOW" was added to the each header so
that users who didn't want their serious stuff cluttered up could use
their newsreader software to killfile those posts. Forgetting to do
this resulted in predictable, usually nasty reminders.

And so to the split. "Volume" was the official reason given. Because
groups which begin with the word "rec" are one of the "big 8" groups,
there's a whole long procedure that has to be followed to create,
split or remove one. (These are groups starting with comp, talk,
news, rec, humanities, can't think of the others offhand, but not
"alt")

There were votes on r.p.c on whether to split at all, and when those
were tallied there were enough "yes" votes to start the process. Then
the whole thing had to shifted over to one of the news.* groups where
the charters for each subgroup were hashed out, with everything
(including the names) were rejected or ok'd by the high poobahs there.
For awhile, it was looking like the meowers were going to be
sanctioned only in the *anecdotes group, which would have left us in
the same position of antagonizing those who just don't get it.

"r.p.c.meowchat" was indeed a suggested name, but was tossed (by
meowers) for the very reason Cory suggested...too much of a target. I
also think a lot of us were pretty tired of that stupid "MEOW" in the
header, it made you feel like a pariah, so why would we want the whole
group marked with a scarlet A?

My personal favorite among the suggested names was "clowder", but a
high poohbah news.groupie vetoed it because he didn't know what it
meant. Since a split was inevitable by that point (many meowers
really didn't want the split at all), "community" was the best
compromise arrived at and approved.

And that's the Cliff Notes version of how we got here. :-)

Melissa

--
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