[boc-l] It's time for goodbyes

[Paul Mather]

On Dec 11, 2021, at 3:24 PM, Ben Cohen via boc-l <boc-l at lists.ispnet.net> wrote:


> Folks,
> 
> It's been a lengthy ride, but it's time to bring things to a close - and for a
> few reasons.


This is a sad post to receive, but not unexpected.  It officially signals
the end of an era for me.  BOC-L is formally closing, which is right and
proper given its long-term decline in traffic.  I thank Ben and Terry for
keeping this list going for what seems like an eternity in Internet time.
It has been a wonderful community and incredible resource over the many
years I've been subscribed.  My thanks to everyone.

Perusing the archives our Humble Moderators have put up in "The Final
Resting Place of BOC-L" I'm shocked to realise I've been a BOC-L subscriber
for a little over 31 years!  According to the early archives, the list was
founded on 22nd September, 1990 and I made my first posting on 24th
September, 1990.  Back then, I lived in the UK and I heard about it from an
e-mail friend I had in the USA---Ken Yousten (RIP)---who saw the
subscription notice on Usenet and forwarded it to me because he knew I'd be
interested.  (We didn't have a Usenet feed at my university back then.)
Looking at those early archives, it looks like I was one of the first
subscribers---even before it was BOC-L and Steve Swann redistributed the
posts himself.

BOC-L has been, for me, a positive force and an unambiguously happy
experience.  It originated in a pre-WWW area, when information wasn't as
readily available as it is now.  The BOC-L community circulated an immense
amount of information about Hawkwind, BOC, and related "imaginative rock"
bands.  Discussions were plentiful and people were incredibly generous with
their knowledge and help.  I guess most everything I know about Hawkwind or
BOC came ultimately from this list, or from leads supplied by list members.
There were lots of long-term subscribers and at times they felt a bit like
an extended family.  BOC-L really was a *social* media portal well before
the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and the likes.

BOC-L was a special community.  I remember various BOC-L projects over the
years: not just the online ones like curating discographies or figuring out
lyrics, but also others like the t-shirt projects (I recall scanning the
candidate artwork for that so it could be voted on); the "Hawkwind Covers
All" tapes project; and others than blurred the line between "online" and
"IRL" (in real life).  Does anyone remember looking out for other
"Nethawks" t-shirts at gigs?  I also consider it super-cool that Albert was
on the list for a time and we were able to get a front-row seat to the
birth of The Brain Surgeons.

Like others, I can't help but wonder if the passing of BOC-L is part of the
passing of the era of e-mail mailing lists.  Maybe it is a product of its
time.  I'm of an age when e-mail lists were my "social media", and so have
never "got into" modern social media forums like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, and so on.  (Cue King Crimson's "I am a dinosaur" lyric.)  I
suspect the reverse is true of most people new to the Internet today.
Maybe that's why traffic fell off: nobody thought to join a mailing list,
and so the new sources of information and community were to be found
elsewhere.  I'd sort of assumed that new Hawkwind and BOC chatter was
happening on Facebook or some Web forum---I just never knew where.  (That's
the other thing I liked about mailing lists: the posts came to you; you
didn't have to go hunt them out on a forum.)  Another music mailing list I
was on for years that was as active and fervent as BOC-L---the Gov't Mule
mailing list EMULE---also sort of petered out and vanished about the same
time as BOC-L.  "All things must pass."

Farewell BOC-L.  I will miss you, but I sure enjoyed the ride!

I wish you all well.

Cheers,

Paul.