Friday, January 23, 2009

One-Sided Conversation

I first mentioned MiningCo when I blogged on Christmas Eve 2008, back when I was discussing scanners, when I mentioned the 'quest,' when Philip asked for photos of my art. Philip was the art forum guide, and I had discovered the art forum through MiningCo...so I know that my discovery of MiningCo was early on in my Internet adventures. It was before my Hotmail account and before I borrowed the use of Terri's scanner for a day. In fact, MiningCo was what led me to seek a scanner. I can't say I had foreseen all this, but I can say that the day that ad flickered past and disappeared, I knew I'd lost something important. So I was glad to find them again. And I wasn't disappointed. MiningCo's directory started with 'A,' and 'Art' was included ~ something Yahoo couldn't boast, and still can't to this day. (Why should they. They have 'B,' which apparently stands for Brittney Spears, and does the world have to look further for true enlightenment?) The 'A' in Art led to 'The Artist's Exchange,' a directory of art resources. That, in turn, led to the Art Forum. I posted on Art Forum a time or two as 'Bugbones.' I was intriqued at the thought of discussing art with anyone, anywhere in the world. There were some nice thoughts posted on there, so I jumped right in. Art Forum was nice, it was interesting... it just wasn't hopping. Like many of those early forums, it was in the doldrums. The conversation was kind of one-sided. Someone would post an interesting thought, and I would find it a week or two down the road and reply. But they were by then long gone and might not be back for a week or a month, if at all. The posts were few and far between, but they showed promise. Philip was the guide, and he was pretty good to keep the threads going even then.

MiningCo and The Art Forum (The Artist's Exchange).

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