From: ugczapla@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Gregory E. Czapla)
Subject: ALL: Soaps on Usenet, Chgo Sun-Times Fri 12/25/92
Keywords: Nancy Baym
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 23:48:10 GMT

It's been ages since I've posted "anythin'" (a little DOOL humor) since
I gave up DOOL cold turkey (clean since May 22, '92), but I wanted to
perform this public service during this holiday season, especially for
Nancy Baym.

The following is the text of an article appearing on page 30 of today's
_Chicago_Sun-Times_, reprinted here in whole & without permission.  All
typos (if any!) are mine.  Opinions/views expressed are those of the
writer & Ms. Baym.

------------------------- ARTICLE TEXT FOLLOWS-------------------------

     Soap Opera Fans Leave Sofa For Computer-Age Critiques
                         By Jim Ritter
                         Staff Writer

  Bobbie and Tiffany are having an unusual custody fight on
the soap opera "General Hospital."
  Bobbie, the adoptive mom, obtained custody of little Lucas
after his biological mother died.  But now Tiffany, the dead
mother's sister, wants the child.
  So whose side are viewers on?
  "It seems like they're leaning toward Tiffany," said soap
opera scholar Nancy Baym.  "They don't particularly like
Bobbie."
  The Bobbie-Tiffany fight is one of the burning issues that
viewers are debating on an electronic bulletin board monitored
by Baym for her thesis at the University of Illinois at
Urbana.
  The bulletin board is part of a computer network known as
Usenet.  Anyone with a computer that's connected to the
network can read and send messages.  It's like talk radio,
without the host.
  Baym pays particular attention to "All My Children," "One
Life to Live" and "General Hospital."  She has read 60,000
messages so far and interviewed many of the people who wrote
them.
  Scholars have been researching soap opera fans since the
first radio soaps in the 1930s.  Fans are usually described as
isolated loners.
  But that's not what Baym has found.
  "Fans have been much maligned over the years," said Baym, a
visiting teaching associate in speech communications.  "These
people are not stupid or isolated.  They lead rich, full
lives."
  Each day, soap fans write between 100 and 150 messages on
Usenet.  A typical message is 300 to 800 words long.
  Messages may express opinions on such vital questions as
whether Brian on "All My Children" should be with Hayley (who
dumped him but wants him back) or Dixie (Brian's dim-witted
new girlfriend.)
  When it appeared that Tad would return to "All My Children"
after a two-year absence, viewers held a lottery to guess when
he would reappear.  (The winner accurately predicted it would
be five minutes before the end of a Friday episode.)
  Usenet links up universities, government labs and computer
and software companies.  The soap opera bulletin board draws
comments from engineers, grad students, scientists, technical
writers and secretaries.
  Prodigy, a commercial on-line service, offers a soap opera
chat line on one of its 400 electronic bulletin boards.  It
draws hundreds of messages a day, a spokeswoman said.
  "Soap watching is in part a public conversational activity,"
Baym said.  "One of the main reasons people watch soaps is so
they can talk to other people."
  About 70 percent of Usenet's soap opera bulletin board
participants are women.
  "Soaps offer a way to talk about the nuances of
relationships and emotions without being personal," Baym said.
  Nevertheless, people occasionally do get personal.  After
episodes about rape, racial beatings and hatred of gays,
viewers have described their own experiences.
  But viewers generally don't take soaps too seriously.
  "There's a mantra people use repeatedly," Baym said. 
"I.O.A.S.  It's only a soap."

------------------------------ END OF ARTICLE--------------------------

Included with the article is a photo of Nancy Baym with the caption,
"Daytime soap operas mingle with the world of academics for Nancy Baym,
who is studying viewers for her thesis."

Happy Holidays everyone!   :^)

Greg

-- 
Gregory E. Czapla                  | Northeastern Illinois University
Instructional Programmer           | 5500 N. St. Louis
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