Hi List,

I first started reading Tango-L in 1996, and it has been a great
resource for discussion, getting answers, learning about
activities in other cities, and generally feeling the pulse of
the tango scene around the world.

In the pre-Youtube days, this list, together with a small
number of "cyber-tango" link lists compiled by academics,
were my essential portals to finding out almost
everything about tango.

Nowadays, the number of online tango resources has exploded,
but not the quality nor the reach.  The diffused nature of
these sites means there is not as much interesting nor
information-dense threads as before.

I would like to ask the list:

- How many people are currently on Tango-L/Tango-A?  I know
   there were several "exodus" where people moved away to
   other forums, but has any other lists overtaken Tango-L yet
   in absolute member numbers/posting numbers?  What other
   discussion / forums do you read regularly?

- Besides Tango-L being a place to "scoop" the latest news (e.g.
   someone famous died), which other online resource has a
   reliable breaking news feed relating to tango?  Unfortunately
   I found almost all tango "revistas" from Argentina do not
   have RSS feeds, even though they are plugged into the news
   "centre" of our universe.

- There are many web developers with world ambition, trying
   to create world wiki notes, world festival calendars,
   world milonga listings, etc. but has any of them become
   runaway leader?  I mean if you are an organiser today,
   which 10 top sites would you immediately update so that
   it gets the word out most effectively?

- Does anyone even have a guess as to the number of tango
   fans around the world?  We were recently asked by a reporter
   to give some statistics for a story, and the best we could do
   was to wave our hand in the air and say "millions and millions
   around the world!!",  even though the actual participation
   rate in our city was just 0.01% of adult population.

I guess I am trying to understand the "big picture" of the online
tango media in 2011/2012.  Without this big picture, we are
slowly becoming like the 5 blind men trying to describe an
elephant, each having only one narrow understanding of the truth.

Kace
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