On Wednesday, January 1, 2014 2:36:07 AM UTC, Marty wrote:
Until a few years ago, SAA was one of the best, if not THE best, amateur astronomy newsgroup on the planet. The same lack of structure that made it vulnerable to trolls and cranks gave it a spontaneity that just doesn't happen in more structured, moderated, groups. There's no reason that amateur astronomers can't take it back.

Marty

Take it back from what Marty !!.There is no spam,there is no obligation to read anyone's posts so unless people are afraid to look foolish I cannot see why a counter assault is needed.

The moderated forums are sterile and designed to maintain a view people have of themselves as 'astronomers' through a magnification exercise and a very,very homocentric view and description of the celestial arena through a rotating celestial sphere framework,personally I think it is a disruptive cult as it interferes with cause and effect between planetary dynamics and terrestrial effects .

I wouldn't mind but you can have your system and the ability to identify objects without any complaint from me but students are never,ever properly taught what the great astronomers did and that I do mind. Men generally know how to act when circumstances change but in this case I don't see it and the crawling away and hiding solution isn't an option for any productive and creative work.

If all you can offer the world Marty is to identify celestial objects along with a poetic description then fair enough but that would limit astronomy to an exercise that is at best twilit compared to the sparkling adventure astronomy actually is and once was.Just as you pine for a more active SAA so do I wish to see the restoration of astronomy as it once existed across the many thousands of years people have looked out into the celestial arena .. I realize that the unique advantages of the 21st century can do exactly that and if you cannot keep up then no worries or problem but I doubt if people here can maintain a discussion here for more than a few posts of a one line response because there is so little you can talk about among yourselves.