Reading the comments above does give food for thought. Being a model internet junkie I gain a substantial amount from sites such these and marvel at the breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm, especially on Mayhem and I enjoy the spontaneity that sites such Mayhem offer . Right enough of the praise. Magazines catering for our branch of modeling have been around for two or three generations. In fact I still see and hear of various copies of Scale Model Ships , Model Maker , Model Boats, Marine Modeling or Radio Control Boat Modeler, being either brought along to the model clubs or re-cycled on various web sites . These hard copies will no doubt be doing the rounds for the next 50 or more years, long after I’m gone. Some have even been carefully bound into volumes and occasionally pop up on e-bay.
Many modeling sites operate some form of archive where modelers can refer back to posts or builds that interest them but it’s not always a simple operation to access these archives. . However any form of electronic storage either personal or collective is by design more transient than the old fashioned hard copy. If and I have seen this happen, a popular site, for what ever reason ceases to exist. Then what happens to all the archive material, members discourse, views, and options?. Where does it go? How many have lost information, pictures etc from any one of their electronic storage devices? How good is the CD , extra hard drive, digital camera, Jump drive you name it, for permanent storage? I picked up the other day a copy December issue 1955 of Scale Model Ships, it was out there and not that difficult to locate. But will some future model builder be able to source that super built project from a model site his father told him about? Or locate that e-.copy of Model Boats or Marine Modeler May be but don’t bank on it.
Bowwave