"Moby Dick" wrote in
ups.com:

On Feb 11, 6:26 pm, John Fereira wrote:
"Moby Dick" wrote in
news:1171238268.607939.4800 @h3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

I'm dictating anything. I was responding to your condescending tone.
Now, I think I see why membership is down.

There is no membership involved. Rec.boats.paddle is an open forum that can
be accessed numerous ways. Many use a usenet newsreader application such as
Forte free agent, Xnews, and for the really old school types, a program
called "trn". Google groups and Yahoo groups merely provide web based front
ends to the group and may provide keyword searching capabilities but all
they're really searching is the content of the posts. As is the case for
most usenet groups the content focus is defined by a charter which is voted
on when the group is initially proposed. In this case, the charter
describes a group for discussion of topics related to boats that can be
paddled, though there have been past discussions about whitewater rafting
(with uses oars rather than paddles), and the use of sails on kayaks. As is
the case for most usenet groups, topics do appear or drift outside the
scope of the original charter but most try to relate their content, even if
tangentially to paddling boats. To confuse things even more, in the UK they
call kayaks a "canoe" and when we start talking about traditional kayaking
alternative spellings appear (Qajaq) or specific types of kayaks (Baidarka)
might show up. Thus, a thread on the merits of a bifurcated bow on a
Baidarka might never contain the words kayak or canoe but it is very much
about paddling a kayak.

As I said, I (nor I doubt) anyone else here has any intention of
discouraging you or anyone else from participating in this group. The
questions that you ask regarding the materials used for kayaks are good ones
and at least a couple of people have taken the time to provide answers.
There is a vast amount of knowledge available here about kayaks, canoes, and
related topics and, for the most part, the atmosphere is quite civil. From
time to time, people do show up that only seem to want to be argumentative
and disruptive, but that's the nature of usenet.

Thanks Mike. If the group is for more than kayakers (and that's
fine), then use all the dang keywords: "kayaking", "canoing",
"paddling". That way people searching for any of the above will
stumble upon the group.

This group isn't a Google group or Yahoo group in the same sense that
you may be familiar with. It's a usenet newsgroup and doesn't have
any associated keywords. Usenet was around long before Google or
Yahoe or any other web site (I've been participating on Usenet since
1985). This group has been around for well over a decade (that's how
long I've been participating and there are several here that were
around long before I). I don't want to discourage you from
particpating but it's not wise to jump into a group that's been around
for a long time and dictate to those that have been partipating in it
for many years how to use the group.