More pressing and imminent than 1-1-00 to my mind is critical mass in public perception of the problem. Perception creates reality, and once a certain level of awareness is reached, I believe the problem becomes self-fulfilling.

I watch the media closely for Y2K prominence. Two weeks ago the Ottumwa Courier called it a "major crisis" in paragraph one of a below-the-fold front page story.

Website traffic would be an interesting way to monitor awareness. If the top five or ten Y2K sites could make traffic patterns available for someone to compile into a trend report, I think we'd have a valuable tool for estimating the approach of what so many consider the near-term problem of the herd getting spooked and stampeding.

Thank you.

-- Jed McKendrick (iowa_jed@hotmail.com), June 21, 1998

Answers

Hello Iowa Jed and Forum: You could probably do this compilation yourself, Jed, just by going back through date postings on any forum. When I awoke to y2k on March 18th, the GN forums were receiving perhaps one-two posts per day -- and you could read back through months of posts on the single page. Today....well, you might find a week's worth of posts on a page, or, in some cases just a couple of day's worth.....this means, more people are posting....more people are aware of the site....more general awareness??? Some posters, admittedly, are questioning the matter, but fewer percentage-wise than even three months ago. Much less spam, much more legitimate and informed concern, and a number of people actually trying out their y2k plans. Something BIG is going on, something the major media are still blind to, something that is growing at a spectacular rate though stunningly silently..... I wouldn't wait to complete my preparations... Anita E.

-- A. Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), June 21, 1998.

Good answer, Anita.

I use the Peter de Jager daily newspaper listings as a guide. When I first tuned in we might get 3 English language newspapers in the world with Y2K articles. Last Monday there were over 50, many of them concentrating on the Senate utility hearings.

These articles are an index of how many people are being bombarded with Y2K sightings. Stop and think about it though; very few of these are from the LA Times, SF Examiner, NY Times. Interesting that more has been published in the Deseret Times(?) than in the majors.

My own conclusion is that many people simply can't do much about it..........or think they can't, which is the same thing because it means they won't. I think the really big push will come when Wall Street catches on and people with money in the market decide that spening a little now is good insurance. This should be accompanied (maybe preceeded) by articles in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the California papers. Until then, the build up will be slow, although accelerating. [See www.westergaard.com, Vic Porlier's series on the New York Media. It makes interesting reading.]

Right on, Anita, don't delay.

-- DeAlton Lewis (delewis@inetone.net), June 21, 1998.

Sorry, the URL for those Victor Porlier articles is:

http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/DSA/VP/index.htm

-- DeAlton Lewis (delewis@inetone.net), June 21, 1998.

A respondent mentioned that there had been more articles on Y2k in the Deseret Times than in the majors. I assume that the Deseret Times is published in Salt Lake City, Utah. No doubt, these Y2k stories are showing up in that newspaper because of the great job that Utah's Senator Bob Bennett is doing of creating Y2k awareness in Congress and throughout the nation. Those of us from states other than Utah should be grateful that Sen. Bennett has done such a good job of alerting the nation. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.....

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), June 21, 1998.

I don't think we're going to see the stampede break loose anytime soon for a couple of reasons. Most Americans are so caught up in their culture, they simply cannot concieve that this is real. It's like sensory overload. A spark ignites and the brain starts twinching. Only people with sufficient technical *appitudes* (re:Not necessarily knowledge or experience) can imagine how this problem could actually be a conduit for a complete societal meltdown. For the masses it will simply be too unreal to believe. The powers at be will manipulate the masses using the mass media to complete diffuse the panic. This actually NOT a good thing. Ultimately, this will simply postpone the inevitable. Then the schitt will really hit the fan come this time next summer.

-- Sam Loy (sloy@iphase.com), June 24, 1998.