by Since this topic is still being hotly debated, I'd like to toss in some
food for thought.
While I don't doubt that there are some people here who are only
interested in professional skating as show business with no interest
at all in skating as a participant activity, and others at the
opposite end of the spectrum who are only interested in skating as a
form of exercise for their own recreation with no interest at all in
watching other people do it on TV, both of those are *very* extreme
positions. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.
I see figure skating as a broad continuum of interests. Here, for
example, is a (non-exhaustive) list of topics which have been
discussed here, or could conceivably be discussed here:
* Comments about pro/elite competitions or shows seen on television.
* Comments about pro/elite competitions or shows seen in person.
* Comments about pro/elite competitions or shows from skaters who
participated in them. (Yes, this *has* happened on r.s.s.i.f.)
* Comments about local/club/*** competitions or shows seen in person.
* Comments about local/club/*** competitions or shows from skaters who
participated in them.
* Information about judging or accounting.
* Information about becoming a judge or accountant.
* First-hand reports from judges or accountants about their experiences.
* Discussion of general USFSA/CFSA/ISU/etc politics and policies that
affect all skaters (e.g., costume rules).
* Discussion of USFSA/CFSA/ISU/etc politics and policies that affect
pro/elite skaters (e.g., reinstatement, international team assignments)
* Discussion of USFSA/CFSA/ISU/etc politics and policies that affect
non-elite competitive skaters (e.g., revisions to the test structure)
* Discussion of USFSA/CFSA/ISU/etc politics and policies that affect
*** skaters (e.g., *** events at qualifying competitions)
* Discussion about triple jumps and other advanced skating technique,
as demonstrated by various pro/elite skaters, by fans.
* Discussion about triple jumps and other advanced skating technique,
as demonstrated by various pro/elite skaters, by judges, coaches, etc.
* Discussion about triple jumps and other advanced skating technique,
by skaters who are actually doing this stuff themselves. (Yes,
we've seen this, too.)
* Discussion about more fundamental figure skating technique (including
stroking, turns, posture and carriage), by fans.
* Discussion about more fundamental figure skating technique, by judges,
coaches, etc.
* Discussion about more fundamental figure skating technique, by skaters.
* First-hand reports from pro/elite skaters about their programs or
training.
* First-hand reports from non-elite competitive figure skaters about
their programs or training.
* First-hand reports from *** competitive skaters about their
programs or training.
* Second-hand reports from pro/elite skaters about their
programs or training ("I interviewed Michael Chack....")
* Second-hand reports from non-elite competitive skaters about their
programs or training ("Somebody who knows Ryan Jahnke said....")
* Second-hand reports from *** competitive skaters about their
programs or training ("Bob McGuirk told me....")
* Fan-type postings about pro/elite skaters (e.g., "Isn't Paul Wylie
terrific?")
* Fan-type postings about non-elite competitive skaters (e.g., "Isn't
Rob Davison terrific?")
* Fan-type postings about *** competitive skaters (e.g., "Isn't
John-Patrick Hull terrific?")
My point is that there really *isn't* a clear dividing line between
"watchers" and "doers". *All* of these topics fall under the current
charter for rec.sport.skating.ice.figure. Some of them may also be
appropriate for rec.sport.skating.ice.recreational under that group's
current charter; there's nothing wrong with cross-posting.
Having been through it once already, I'm not interested in trying to
shepherd another reorganization of the newsgroups through the official
process again myself. I would just like to suggest to anyone else who
wants to propose a reorganization that they ought to think really,
really hard about this list of topics and where they propose they
should be discussed.
-Sandra