More and more lately I find myself wondering if it is really worth my time hanging around on ETS? Over the years I've gotten a number of worthwhile tips on ETS, and found a lot of interesting discussion. Maybe I'm just getting grumpy in my old age, but it seems to me there lately has been an overall deterioration in the amount of useful "signal" vs useless "noise" on this site.

The "Save a Life – Surrender Your Knife" thread is a classic example of what I'm talking about. It started with a tiny bit of (possible) signal, regarding a supposed impending ban on pointy knives in the UK. Never mind that Ian (who actually lives in the UK) points out that he has never heard of such a ban. The linked article is from a highly reliable website called "countercurrentnews.com". Doing a quick google search, the only other sites that seem to be carrying the story are such places as "sharktank.com", "angrywhitedude.com", and "rightwingnews.com". Certainly no reason for skepticism here, is there?

The thread goes on for no less than 6 pages (currently) of mostly noise. Even if this alleged campaign is for real, does anyone think all this ranting does anything to stop it? Did anyone change anyone else's mind?

Also note that dougwalkabout correctly points out (on page 1) that even if this is for real, it is really only a concern for folks in the UK. Since as far as I know, the UK is still considered a democracy, it seems to me that it is really up to the people over there to decide if they want this ban or not.

I bring this whole thing up because I lately I find myself checking in on ETS less and less, for the simple reason that there doesn't seem to be as much worthwhile discussion as there used to be. I've also noted that quite a few of the regulars, people who almost always had something worthwhile to say, don't seem to be around as much as in the past. I can't help but wonder if the signal to noise ratio has something to do with that? While I still (for the moment at least) check in on ETS from time to time, I more and more find myself wondering if I should even bother.