Why is traffic on this newsgroup so low?

[Mel Roman]

Hi:

As someone who's learing Java, I've been monitoring this newsgroup for a
while now. I've recently been struck by the fact that the traffic on
this newsgroup is much lower than those for groups related to other
languages (eg: ruby, python, etc...).

Is this perhaps a sign of a waning interest in java? I remember a few
years ago that java was really hot. My impression is that now it is
mature and very well established. Are people now beginning to move
towards other technologies instead of java? I suppose newsgroup traffic
is not a good barometer of this, but it certainly makes me wonder...

I look forward to your thoughts.

--

Mel Roman
me*@melroman.net

[Pedro Sam]

try the other newsgroups as well:

comp.lang.java.programmer
comp.lang.java.help
comp.lang.java.* (etc..)

--
Don't let your mind wander -- it's too little to be let out alone.

[Doug Pardee]

Mel Roman <me*@melroman.net> wrote:

I've recently been struck by the fact that the traffic on
this newsgroup is much lower than those for groups related to other
languages (eg: ruby, python, etc...).

That's because comp.lang.java was replaced by more specific newsgroups
back in May of 1996. Google Groups carries it for its historical
value, and a few ISPs (mainly cable-Internet providers) seem to carry
it out of ignorance :-)

The current worldwide Java newsgroups are:

comp.lang.java.3d 3D Graphics API's for the Java language
comp.lang.java.advocacy Support for and criticism of the Java System
comp.lang.java.announce Announcements re the Java System (Moderated)
comp.lang.java.beans Java software components (JavaBeans)
comp.lang.java.corba Topics relating to Java and CORBA
comp.lang.java.databases Databases, java.sql, JDBC, ODBC
comp.lang.java.gui GUI toolkits and windowing: AWT, IFC etc
comp.lang.java.help Set-up problems, catch-all first aid
comp.lang.java.machine JVM, native methods, hardware
comp.lang.java.programmer Programming in the Java language
comp.lang.java.security Security issues raised by Java

Most people seem to dump everything into comp.lang.java.programmer (or
at least cross-post it there -- yuck). For example, despite the fact
that comp.lang.java.gui exists, probably half of the traffic on
comp.lang.java.programmer is about Swing.

That confusion is despite the every-four-days posting of the mini-FAQ
"comp.lang.java.{help,programmer} - what they're for". The most recent
posting at this writing can be found at
http://groups.google.com/gr*********...cis.QueensU.CA