Oh my, The OakNet News. I hope it's not archived out there somewhere, it would be embarrassing to revisit!

How the Net has changed. I remembered when I first published ONN. 96?
97? People would say, "Wow, you have a newsletter? Can I join?" And I would say, "Yes, and not only that, it's FREE!" And this conversation would fascinate all involved.

I copied the idea from somebody (I-Sales?) and so did a zillion other folks. Now the whole concept is so common that all the novelty is long gone and most of us power skim all the many ezines we get, should we get around to reading them at all.

Banners are another example, once interesting and effective, now almost worthless because we've had so much practise at ignoring them.

Is this same process underway with direct response copy? A successful formula is copied by one and all until all the life is sucked out of the original impact?

Don't know, just asking.

I'm not hip to the industry inside shop talk. Do copywriting pros see the direct response formula as a moment in time, and are they pondering amongst themselves what might come next? If yes, what are they imagining?

This is old man whining but I must admit the pace of change is now an issue for me. I've only been on the Net for 7-8 years and already most of what I've learned is obsolete. Having been through that loop a number of times now it's starting to affect my motivation to learn new stuff to a degree. Anybody else experiencing this, or should I just call the nurse and have her update my medications?

Phil