[David Rosenthal]

I retract most of the sentiment of my previous posts in this thread.

Nemo wins with: But too often these days there is no conversation already going on; and so the place has become that swiftly shifting cacophony of voices typical of the superficial over-connectedness of an internet chat room. What is missing is the ground of the conversation, the collective memory of the place. And this: I rarely see that particular quality in posted work anymore: finished work ready for the kiln.

Julie gets an assist with: I agree with Nemo. Dammit. I didn't want to.

Which isn't to say I am averse to agreeing with Nemo in general, I just didn't want to agree with him about this. I still stand by the comments about how long people around here have been announcing the decline of the Sphere but Nemo's description rings true for me, which probably means it has been developing this way for a while since I haven't been around for a while.

David R.