Usenet

[serene]

I am writing a long post about internet community spaces, and I went
looking on the wayback machine to see the old page I wrote about Usenet.
I'm gonna put it here to refer to.

Usenet

Better minds than mine have worked on explaining what Usenet is;
I'll just tell you that to me it feels like the best mix of discussion,
information, and (though I can feel some people rolling their eyes when
I say this) community available via the internet. It's a way for a
solitary person like
me to have real, substantive contact with intelligent, articulate people
every day.

One thing I like about Usenet is that it gives a pretty good idea of what
I think and
feel, since I talk about everything there. You can even look
at my Usenet postings if you're so inclined.

My newsgroups

(If you click on the name of the newsgroup, you will be taken to the group
itself, if your browser supports that kind of thing. I have made an
effort to include links to the FAQ of each group, if I know it, and to
describe a little about what I think you can expect there.)

alt.polyamory: Alt.poly, one of my two
"home" newsgroups, is for people who are open to the idea of having more
than one love in their lives, or, really, for anyone who wants to discuss
relationships. There are several monogamous people who post at alt.poly,
and we like it that way. This is NOT a swingers' group. Poly is
about honesty in multi-partner relationships, which do not always include
sex. Plus the people (most of us) are really nice and funny. The
alt.poly homepage and FAQ are at www.polyamory.org.

soc.bi: My other home group. I adore the
people, and it's just the right mix of fluff and flame for me most of the
time. One does not have to be bi to enjoy this newsgroup. The soc.bi FAQ
can be found at this address.

soc.women.lesbian-and-bi
(SWLAB): A sharp, (sometimes bitingly so) witty bunch of women who in
my years there have discussed topics whose range is so diverse that it
seems silly for me to try to list them here. The newsgroup is sometimes
moderate-to-high-volume, but as I write this in May of 2001, it's very
low-volume. SWLAB is moderated, and the moderation policy and FAQ are at
this address.

alt.shoe.lesbians.moderated:
Shoe is back on Usenet, yay! This is a fun and supportive group of
lesbian and bi women. The moderation policy and FAQ are at this address.

soc.sexuality.general: This is a
moderated newsgroup on the topic of sexuality. It's a good place to find
serious discussion of issues related to sex and sexuality. I didn't have
any luck on a websearch for the FAQ, but I'll post them as soon as I know
where they are.

soc.support.fat-acceptance.moderated:
Finally, a moderated group for the size-acceptance
crowd. There are several FAQ lists for the group; you can usually find
them here.

soc.motss: MOTSS stands for "members of the
same sex." This high-volume newsgroup defies description, as the
discussions are as varied in content and tone as any I've participated in.
Here -- read the FAQ; maybe
that'll help.

---

Comments

[smashingstars.livejournal.com]

I've been posting on Usenet since '93 and have a history with two of the groups you mention. Years ago I belonged to SWLAB, when it was first created I believe, and lesbians on the group threatened the few bi's who were there. Eventually the moderators banned us bi women and there was talk of changing this group's name to keep bi women out. Very ugly.

Stopped going to the fat-acceptance group as well. A poster on SSFAM, also on a cat group I visit, apparently hates my guts *laugh* Many times she threw accusations at me that were inappropriate. She's the type of person on Usenet who thinks they can judge someone and, once judged, berate them for failing to live up to these imaginary standards. Always accusing people of mental illness, social inadequacy, stupidity, lies, and she tries to demean people by publically plonking them, stuff like that. She hasn't called me crazy or plonked me yet, but I wasn't about to stick around for it ;)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm lucky. I don't seem to have had that effect on people in either of those groups. I'm still a regular on swlab, but I only read ssfam sporadically.

[smashingstars.livejournal.com]

I don't seem to have had that effect on people in either of those groups

Erm, implying I caused these incidents? *laugh* Actually with the lady who doesn't like me, yeah, it's pretty much because of me. Or the parts of me she sees on Usenet.

SSFAM is a good group. The problem I had was with the lady who snarks at me so I didn't mean to imply SSFAM was the problem. For some reason there's 2 people on Usenet who don't like me and neither killfiled me. They just keep following up to me with snark. Tiresome.

The SWLAB thing was part of the growing pains of a new group I'm sure. If I recall, SWLAB had no bi mods. Most posters were lesbian, as well. It got emotional when they began to complain about past bi lovers who dumped them and later dated men, labelling all bi's as bad people and traitors because we "fraternized" with men (heh!). Since there were only a couple of us bi women who posted, it was easier to just ban us and pretend we didn't exist. I didn't see how the group could overcome that, but I'm glad it did.

[redbird]

That depends on what you mean by "cause," I suppose. If someone screams at my best friend for walking down the street with a white man, and ignores me when I do the same, my friend isn't causing the incident; she just happens to have a visible characteristic that sets off certain people's prejudices.

[catrinaz.livejournal.com]

I'm searching for a post I wrote once on "what a listserv can be"...it was really great, and it might be lost, but I haven't given up yet.

[baerana.livejournal.com]

swlab's faq appears to have moved - it seems to be here now - http://welcome.to/swlab/ (http://welcome.to/swlab/)

what is "shoe"? that faq appears to have gone away

you know what I've wanted for a long time? a group for women - not necessarily bi, gay, or straight. But just a group supportive and encouraging of women. But every time a group starts out with that in mind, it quickly turns into a very angry, anti-woman, anti-feminist hate-fest. Have you ever found a place that is simply woman-positive?