From: jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL for group alt.fan.mystery.detective
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 92 20:23:11 GMT

	I took the liberty of cross-posting this to rec.arts.books.  I hope
nobody minds--  it seemed appropriate.


In article <18atp4INNet8@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> saint@cats.ucsc.edu (Dan Bodenheimer) writes:
>
>I am proposing the creation of the group alt.fan.mystery.detective

	Yay!!  It's about time someone did this!  But, I do have some
questions/concerns, which I'll mention below


>This group would be in the same vein as the Star Trek and assorted
>other newsgroups that are much valued on the net. The forum would be
>open to any and all discusion about the msytery or detective genre.
>Topics would range from television, movies, and books, to authors,
>actors, and characters. Anyone interested in great mystery writers,
>television detectives, and current news as to what is happening in
>the world of suspense will be pleased to have this group available.

	I'm entirely sure what you mean by "current news in the world of
suspense".  Do you just mean what's going on/being written/produced in
the genre of detective fiction, or are you getting at something else, like
"true crime" or "horror."  In any case, it sounds good.

>I would like any suggestions for a charter, and or an opinion of the
>worthiness of such a group. No group exists that carries this load.
>rec.arts.books is much too big for such topics. Perhaps if enough
>interest in forthcoming a joint proposal can be offered for two new
>usenet groups: rec.arts.mystery.detective and rec.arts.sci-fi.fantasy
>I do not think that either group is available, I was not able to find
>any on my system.
>

	No they're not, and I think the creation of a mystery newsgroup in
the rec.arts.* hierarchy is likely to be received quite warmly. However,
I do have some questions/things-to-think-about, all of which I think I
can focus around one point.

	I'm just a bit curious about the ".detective" at the end of 
"rec.arts.mystery."  My guess is that in doing this, you want to distinguish
detective fiction from other works that are frequently lumped in with mysteries
but which tend to be works of horror and occult.  Since there already is
a horror newsgroup (alt.horror), it probably isn't necessary to add the
".detective" in the name of this newsgroup.  One could just call it 
alt.fan.mystery or rec.arts.mystery and spell out in the charter/FAQ that the
newgroup is devoted to discussing detective mysteries of the sort written
by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, etc, while discussion
of macabre fiction (of the sort written by H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Dean 
Koontz, etc.) is probably more appropriate in alt.horror.  Personally, I 
don't think we should be too uptight about this.  Poe and Hoffmann, the 
pioneers of the detective story, wrote a number of stories in a more macabre
vein, and I don't think discussion of them should be "forbidden" simply because
they are more horror stories than detective mysteries.
	Another reason I think it might be a good idea to drop the "detective"
from the newsgroup's name is for dealing with stories of suspense that are
not, strictly speaking, detective stories, but are very similar to them. The
courtroom suspense of Erle Stanley Gardner (the creator of Perry Mason) would
be appropriate in such a group as well, IMHO, and I think the name should
reflect the inclusiveness of the genre.

	--  Jim C. <jchokey@leland.stanford.edu>