[Tango-L] Why has Tango-L faded away?

[robin tara]

So well put, Shahrukh,

It is sad, but true.

BTW, My cat prefers Biagi



Robin Tara

http://www.taratangoshoes.com

1-207-505-5227


On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 6:43 PM, Shahrukh Merchant <
shahrukh at shahrukhmerchant.com> wrote:

> Dear Tango-L members,
>
> I think there are a number of things that have come together to make a
> Tango-L type of list redundant. I don't think any one or even two of
> these items would kill a list like this, but combined they are all just
> that many nails in the coffin.
>
> 1. Tango Pioneering Times (no longer)
>
> In the early years of Tango-L, those involved in Tango were pioneers.
> Tango was new in the US and Europe, and probably even more fragmented in
> other parts of the world. A foreigner at a Buenos Aires milonga was a
> source of wonder for locals. Now it's just the opposite--I recently had
> a (non-Tango-dancing) Argentine friend tell me once (obviously she was
> misinformed, but it's still a perception), "You dance Tango?? But you
> live here--I thought just tourists did that!"
>
> The Stanford Tango Week was the only Tango festival in the world (I
> think) when Tango-L first got started. So of course the pioneers wanted
> to communicate with others as it was an intimate circle. Now, Tango is
> much more mature and even mainstream. People don't need a discussion
> list to talk about it any more than they need one to talk about their
> refrigerators (OK, Tango isn't quite that generic, but you get the
> point). Tango is "just another activity" for a far larger percentage of
> Tango dancers now than it was then.
>
> 2. Internet Pioneering Times (no longer)
>
> As others have mentioned, the Internet in its current form did not
> exist. There was no Google, no web pages with Tango information,
> initially only academics and those in large or tech corporations had
> email access (until AOL and Compuserve came along). A list-server was a
> rare and precious commodity. The ONLY was to find out about Tango
> outside your local community short of making a trip was via Tango-L.
>
> Obviously, the opposite is true now. A search for Tango just in Yahoo
> groups yields 1,884 matches. A search on Facebook Groups and Pages would
> no doubt yield many thousands more. Google can search pretty much
> anything Tango going on anywhere. What special role does or even can
> Tango-L have in this?
>
> 3. Static Membership
>
> This is more apparent to me than most people since I get notification of
> new members joining the list. It's a trickle, as it has been for the
> last several years. The list has been essentially static in membership
> for the last 5 years at least (about 1200 people altogether) and that
> total number has been constant pretty much since a year after Tango-L's
> inception. During that time, Tango has exploded in the world 10x or 100x
> perhaps.
>
> Of course a discussion mailing list of 10,000 or 100,000 would not be
> manageable other than as an announcement-only list, but the point is
> that if there is nothing to draw in new blood, the list can't possibly
> fulfill its original function. Maybe it can be a nostalgia list for
> "Tango Pioneers" or something like that, but that's a far cry from the
> original scope.
>
> Besides, it seems that the older members of the list have "heard it all
> before" and without the new blood, the discussions become repetitive.
> And the new blood tends to be younger, have a different perspective on
> Tango (for better or for worse, but that's besides the point), has never
> used mailing lists, has many more electronic media to choose between, or
> just plain doesn't identify with the increasingly "old world" view (from
> their standpoint) on Tango-L.
>
> 4. Changing Nature of Discussions
>
> The "internet overload" syndrome combined with greater use of
> smartphones has led to few people having the time or inclination for
> protracted internet discussions on anything. At one end of the spectrum,
> people would rather click to take a picture, click again to post it, and
> type 5 words ("My cat dancing to D'Arienzo!") and be content with 50
> people "Like"-ing it or replies like "Mine prefers DiSarli ... LOL."
>
> At the other end of the spectrum, they would rather post something more
> significant or thoughtful on their own blog, which could lead to some
> traffic, recognition, income, etc., for the poster, rather than
> "wasting" it in a motley mix of posts on Tango-L.
>
> 5. Connecting to the Tango World on Tango-L (no longer)
>
> Well, we Tangueros should recognize the power of connection. One of the
> things that Tango-L provided was connection: Connection to people who
> shared the interest, connection to people you had danced with,
> connection to far-flung Tango communities, etc. The "discussion" aspect
> was there in parallel but many valued the connection as much if not more
> than the discussion. In the first few years of Tango-L it was the ONLY
> way to connect with fellow tangueros in "distant lands" without actually
> travelling there.
>
> Now, there are many and far better ways to connect (even if not to
> discuss)--Facebook comes most readily to mind. So there is no need for
> Tango-L for this connection aspect (nor does it hold up very well to the
> alternatives on this component).
>
> CONCLUSIONS
>
> True discussion lists and web fora that seem to succeed are those that
> are based around increasingly narrow topics, where the feeling of a
> pioneer spirit remains, and where there is no other ready source for
> information (such as with TangoDJ for a few years, until that too
> fizzled out). I can see a list for Tango musicians, budding or
> otherwise, also succeeding.
>
> Others that succeed, and presumably always will in some form, are local
> groups, whatever form they may take, if for nothing else than event
> announcements (and perhaps the occasional gossip), since ultimately
> those are the people with whom you connect most often and people also
> want to know about what's going on around them.
>
> Many have stated, in and out of the survey, "But there is nothing else
> like Tango-L [was]!" and I agree. But Tango had it's Golden Age and so,
> it seems, has Tango-L. The world moves on, as it must, and that's not a
> bad thing.
>
> Feel free to comment on any of this. I haven't made a decision yet on
> keeping the list, but I think the writing is on the wall. However, it
> won't disappear without ample warning. For one, there is work I need to
> do to resurrect the archives, which really is a treasure-trove of
> information, history and discussion, and I won't dissolve the list until
> the archives are set up, if for no other reason than to announce the
> archive location to the list.
>
> Regards,
>
> Shahrukh Merchant
> Tango-L administrator
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