Ted:
Geoff, if you and/or anyone else is committed to nettime as a project,
however you see it, then you might consider starting a new list (or
whatever) dedicated to that project and recruiting people to contribute.
Speaking as someone who was there from the "beginning" (and as one of those who talked you into re-engaging), I think you're right. Without a "cause" that seriously needs people's engagement, there is no reason for this list.
But, what was the cause to begin with?
Nettime was an opportunity to meet in person. Particularly for those from the "West" and the "East." Artists who wanted to do "art" together. Those who energized this list attended MetaForum (in Budapest.) There is reason why the final "convo" for nettime was called "Beauty and the East." There is a reason why those meetings were abandoned under "threat" from the Soros-people, since they seemed to control the funding (causing the final meeting to take place at their offices in Llubljana, with the two of us taking the train from Vienna, along with Dave Bennahum.) There is a reason why those people found other ways to get things done and (mostly) left nettime.
It's been running on fumes since then. No meetings, no nettime. Rebels w
ithout a cause.
Kill it or find a new cause . . . !!
Mark Stahlman (Jersey City Heights)
P.S. While "gender" might be your concern, it sure wasn't when we got together. Diana McCarty got me involved. With a phone-call in the middle of the night (and a plane ticket.) More recently, she wanted to pull together another meeting. Didn't happen. The result was, as expected (by her, with my agreement), a circle-jerk.
P.P.S. My concern is the lack of any discussion about China (or Chinese on the list.) Or Artificial Intelligence (or computer scientists on the list.) Getting East/West artists together was accomplished long ago. What needs to happen now is a coming-together of those trying to deal with events in Hong Kong and beyond. And the billions being spent on an AGI "arms race." Not the collapse of the Berlin Wall. New "causes" means new forms of organization. Welcome to the future; now get out of the past.