Role of Message Boards in Disseminating New Research

[Monty]

Being able to remember when there were no magazines or websites, or podcasts, I am simply grateful that they exist and that people share their knowledge and discoveries. And I'm grateful that folk like Adam and Eduardo and Chris and Don and Stephen and Howard and everyone else who daily puts in a lot of time and effort and not a little personal income, are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to do it.

Hear hear Paul.

If it wasn't for those, and others, I wouldn't have been able to get my stuff out there. Jakes artwork wouldnt have been noted and certain projects not grown.

Also, it should be noted, there wouldnt have been friendships forged, relationships, marriages even.

Without Casebook the London Job wouldn't have seen the light of day nor the Cardiff and Bristol jobs.

Now apart from that, what did the Romans do for us?

Monty

[Ally]

Yes, that is a danger.

All the best

Chris

Suddenly realized that people think I actually speak for Casebook (I don't) so thought I should clarify that I was mostly being facetious. Stephen's business is largely website related these days (stuff other than Casebook). I didn't mean to suggest that he actually would go total lights out on the Casebook as there would be no point. The Casebook is one of many websites he currently manages. (The more likely scenario would be he'd just turn off the message boards so people couldn't cause problems any more or restrict who could post there to "serious" non-arseholey people. Which yes would let me out ENTIRELY!)

In any event, I did not mean to suggest that the Casebook going dark was a serious option. It could be "frozen" certainly so that only "approved" info would be allowed to be added to it, but there is no point really in going lights out.

[Ally]

Also, it should be noted, there would have been friendships forged, relationships, marriages even.

I've often thought the Casebook should advertise itself as a dating site. I can't count how many relationships came out of the chatroom back in the day.

[Monty]

I've often thought the Casebook should advertise itself as a dating site. I can't count how many relationships came out of the chatroom back in the day.

Monty

[Supe]

Ah yes, the good old days. Can't speak to it as a dating site but chat room used to be an exciting place, with upwards of a dozen people swapping ideas and good humor. Would that it were still so.

Don.

[ChrisGeorge]

Ah yes, the good old days. Can't speak to it as a dating site but chat room used to be an exciting place, with upwards of a dozen people swapping ideas and good humor. Would that it were still so.

Don.

Speaking of which, I am in there now. See some of you there?

Chris

[Robert]

Dating??? What are the ads like?

"Man, fair-complexioned, swarthy, appearance of foreigner, could not swear to himself in mirror, good sense of horror, would like to meet..."

[ChrisGeorge]

Dating??? What are the ads like?

"Man, fair-complexioned, swarthy, appearance of foreigner, could not swear to himself in mirror, good sense of horror, would like to meet..."

Is that a description of Jack the Ripper or the description of a good date?

[Debra A]

Hi Debs et al.

I don't particularly want to make a case for a suspect-oriented article because the Rip publishes a substantial range of articles including investigational, informational, biographical, as well as suspect-based articles. But whatever the nature of the article, the piece in a sense makes a fully-rounded argument and is fully referenced so is much more than a collection of "'trivial' nuggets" as you put it. I do realize though that your post is partly in answer to my post in which I made the point that some posts on the boards might be more in the way of trivial pieces of information that might illuminate some aspect of the case but will not make for a full article.

In regard to the point Paul Begg was making that message boards often close or have problems, how many times has it happened that the Casebook boards have crashed and data has either been lost or only partially retrieved? I know it has happened a number of times, albeit not recently.

Best regards

Chris

Not everyone has the time/inclination to write a full blown article though, that's what I'm saying. I'm thinking of Chris Phillips in particular who's contributions to the boards contain much original thought, discussion and research and the subject matter very much article-worthy, well thought out and fully referenced. I would love to see work like that be published in summary in a magazine if the researcher is reluctant to write a full blown article. You're thinking a one off newspaper article or census entry for Barnett's sister's husband's cousin's dog?

[Wickerman]

I've often thought the Casebook should advertise itself as a dating site. I can't count how many relationships came out of the chatroom back in the day.

Casebook Scandals?, do I smell another book brewing....

[Barnaby]

I love these message boards and have learned so much from them. But if Ripperology is ever to be considered as a serious academic subject, then the historians specializing in it should be publishing in existing peer-reviewed journals (and not only in those specializing in the Whitechapel murders). The peers reviewing the research should be professionally employed historians whose specialties lie within similar fields. This is how the game is played. Now, I would rate some of our historians as first rate (underrated I believe), but the fact is they never will receive proper credit for their contributions until and unless their work is published in proper outlets.

[PaulB]

And there again, Paul, I feel the need to repeat that I do not doubt that they all try their best. I've always enjoyed reading Ripp, I'm sure I'd enjoy other reviews as well....but it's perhaps too much for that field, imo, and I've seen, in other areas, that it could be counter-productive.
All I'm saying.

I understand what you are saying and in many respects you are right, but I think it's probably true to say that the market will dictate what it can or cannot sustain. If there is enough material - and enough readers - to keep four or forty Ripper magazines then that's what we'll get. The real danger is that if there are too many magazines then the good, solid and informative articles will be spread too thin and the bulk of the magazine will be filled with whatever the publisher can get, the readership will decline, and the magazine will cease. The only other problem the magazines face is that "Ripperology" is a hobby, and more often than not it is a passing interest with potential readers coming and going, so it's important to have and to maintain a core readership, and, of course, that will dwindle and vanish if the magazine offers less than solid articles. It's therefore almost impossible to maintain the balance between publishing the sort of material people new to the subject want to read and the material the knowledgeable want, such as Adam's recent and excellent feature on the Aberconway version in the Rip. Maybe the magazines will eventually divide down that route, finding their own niche.

[PaulB]

Dating??? What are the ads like?

"Man, fair-complexioned, swarthy, appearance of foreigner, could not swear to himself in mirror, good sense of horror, would like to meet..."

No, more like: "Mary Kelly lost her heart. So can you - on Casebook."

Sorry.

[PaulB]

Not everyone has the time/inclination to write a full blown article though, that's what I'm saying. I'm thinking of Chris Phillips in particular who's contributions to the boards contain much original thought, discussion and research and the subject matter very much article-worthy, well thought out and fully referenced. I would love to see work like that be published in summary in a magazine if the researcher is reluctant to write a full blown article. You're thinking a one off newspaper article or census entry for Barnett's sister's husband's cousin's dog?

Hi Debs,
That sort of material would be hugely welcomed by the Rip and by Review, and both would fall over themselves to get it.

[DVV]

I understand what you are saying and in many respects you are right, but I think it's probably true to say that the market will dictate what it can or cannot sustain. If there is enough material - and enough readers - to keep four or forty Ripper magazines then that's what we'll get. The real danger is that if there are too many magazines then the good, solid and informative articles will be spread too thin and the bulk of the magazine will be filled with whatever the publisher can get, the readership will decline, and the magazine will cease. The only other problem the magazines face is that "Ripperology" is a hobby, and more often than not it is a passing interest with potential readers coming and going, so it's important to have and to maintain a core readership, and, of course, that will dwindle and vanish if the magazine offers less than solid articles. It's therefore almost impossible to maintain the balance between publishing the sort of material people new to the subject want to read and the material the knowledgeable want, such as Adam's recent and excellent feature on the Aberconway version in the Rip. Maybe the magazines will eventually divide down that route, finding their own niche.

Thanks Paul, entirely agreed.