[doogerdog]

A couple of very good computer forums that I depended on years ago were slowly destroyed by "long term users". A small group seemed to think that their long history and prolific posting made it their playground. Little by little it became less worth my time to check it out every day. This place is always worth a glance. Every day. On the best discussions you can sense that people only post if they feel they really have something to add.

I love what Dang refers to as HN's non-silowed nature. It is easy to find useful and fascinating discussions on any topic. When I have the time and energy, sometimes I dive in for a few hours. When I come up for air I'm tired but generally pleased with experience.

A common complaint here is that it ain't what it used to be. There may be a little more fluff now but when it's good - It's darn good.

[beachy]

This reminds me of a pub we used to go to occasionally in Berkshire. When one of the crusty old locals went to the bar, they were always served first, even if other customers had already been waiting a while. Great for them, but made for an unwelcoming vibe that definitely reduced their custom. We only put up with it because they had a great garden area for kids.

[dang]

That last bit reminds me of Orwell's description of his ideal pub, the "Moon Under Water":

The great surprise of the Moon Under Water is its garden. You go through a narrow passage leading out of the saloon, and find yourself in a fairly large garden with plane trees, under which there are little green tables with iron chairs round them. Up at one end of the garden there are swings and a chute for the children.

On summer evenings there are family parties, and you sit under the plane trees having beer or draught cider to the tune of delighted squeals from children going down the chute. The prams with the younger children are parked near the gate.

Many as are the virtues of the Moon Under Water, I think that the garden is its best feature, because it allows whole families to go there instead of Mum having to stay at home and mind the baby while Dad goes out alone.

And though, strictly speaking, they are only allowed in the garden, the children tend to seep into the pub and even to fetch drinks for their parents. This, I believe, is against the law, but it is a law that deserves to be broken, for it is the puritanical nonsense of excluding children—and therefore, to some extent, women—from pubs that has turned these places into mere boozing-shops instead of the family gathering-places that they ought to be.

The Moon Under Water is my ideal of what a pub should be—at any rate, in the London area. (The qualities one expects of a country pub are slightly different.)

I'm sure the Moon Under Water would treat newcomers well, though!

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...

[beachy]

That does sound ideal all right.

Another feature of that pub I remember was a setup where patrons could dress up in Velcro vests, then jump onto a big trampoline and hurl themselves up as high as possible onto a Velcro wall where they stuck like flies. Fun times, if not Orwellian.