Ringing forums

Ringers have always discussed, argued and shared ideas – not just in the tower and the pub but more widely. In the 18th & 19th century they used the columns of local newspapers, in the 20th century they used the letters page of The Ringing World, and now they do it electronically.

Few people had heard of e-mail 30 years ago when Ken Olum of MIT set up the ChangeRingers e-mail list, the first digital ringing forum that enabled ringers anywhere to tap into the experience and knowledge of other ringers quickly and easily. It’s still running (now hosted on the Ringing World server) and has been joined by other lists discussing ringing history, ringing theory, and even a ‘virtual ringing pub’.

The mailing lists work well but with the increased use of Facebook in recent years ringers have created a plethora of Facebook Groups as well – so many that it can be hard to keep up with them all. I know of: Bellringers, Bellringing, Bellringing webmasters, Bellringing memes, Ringing simulators, Publicity recruitment and PR in bellringing, Ringing training, Amateur steeple keepers, together with lots and lots of local ringing groups.

The Facebook groups are widely used but in many ways not suited to serious discussion. For example, the order in which you see things is controlled by a hidden Facebook formula and you don’t have any control over it. In fact if you leave Facebook to check something and then return you can’t always find what you were looking at. And there are no systematic archives (by topic, date, etc) like most e-mail lists have, so if a topic has come up before it can be hard to find it.

The Central Council has now provided ‘Ringing Forums’ to support discussions and questions about anything related to ringing. It’s been designed for ringers, by ringers. Discussions on different ringing related topics are listed together on one place, making it easy to join in, whether to ask a question or just to see what others are discussing on things that interest you. Everyone uses their real name, which is more friendly than when people hide behind pseudonyms.

To get a flavour of what it can offer you go to: ringingforums.org/

John Harrison (February 2022)

  Article originally printed in the Winter 2022 Sonning Deanery Branch Newsletter,