[Lowfer] The Noise Floor Web Site

[John Davis]

Since I haven't seen any other comment yet, I'll offer some early thoughts,
and may have some direct correspondence for you later, Les.

Even in its non-updated form, The Noise Floor has served as a valuable
reference to which we regularly refer newcomers for a sense of what
LowFERing and MedFERing is all about.  For that reason, I would certainly
discourage consideration of option #1.

On the other side of the coin, I suggest it is wise to consider what needs
of the community can best be served by a Web site.  In the absence of
updates to the Noise Floor, I considered whether to resume putting lots of
everyday LowFER news on the lwca.org site.  But it quickly became clear that
the most intense interest in such news resides among the members of this
list, who already post it here themselves!

Hence, I published highlights of the bigger trends, and that seemed to
pretty much satisfy the needs of the more eclectic readers of the Web page.
There doesn't seem to be much point in duplicating the news appearing in
this reflector; or, for that matter, the file sources like Alberto's site
and the depositories in England and the Netherlands; or galleries of station
facilities, such as Dex has now amassed.  So, perhaps #3 would not be as
productive as it might first appear.

My personal leaning would be toward #2 or #4, as you yourself have a good
sense of what information is valuable to the community over the long haul.
If there's a chance under either of these options that you might be able to
update lists of records and accomplishments from time to time, I think that
would be a valuable service to the community, and one which hopefully
wouldn't interfere with your BCB interests as well.

John D



>As some of you know, I created a web site devoted to Lowfer and
>Medfer activity about three years ago called "The Noise Floor".
>
>The last two years I've done almost no Lowfer work, my time is
>very limited, and I've been consumed with BCB DXing.
>
>I've considered several options for the site:
>
>1. Simply "shutting it down".
>2. Simplifing a lot of the content (much of which is out of date) and
>leaving it
>in place as a reference and hopefully something to come back to at a later
>date.
>3. Allowing someone else who is active in the hobby to update it, and
>continue
>to host the site.
>4. Changing the site to include some basic info on Lowfer-Medfer, but
>changing
>the focus to AM BCB DXing, etc.
>
>I'm interested to see if anyone wants to manage the site, and in general,
>how much the community still uses the site as a resource. I do "read the
>mail"
>here and know that some exciting things are going on. I'm certain that
>someday
>I'll get active again on LF.
>
>73,
>
>Les Rayburn, N1LF
>