From: KONDARED@PURCCVM.BITNET
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: A brief, nostalgic history of SCI ! (Was : Re: Swastik(a))
Date: 29 Aug 92 17:19:57 GMT
 <935@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu> <17k3g1INNs19@overload.lbl.gov>
Organization: Purdue University

In article <17k3g1INNs19@overload.lbl.gov>, prem@prem.lbl.gov (Shirdi R. Prem)
says:
>
>In article <935@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu> chemsn@emory.edu (Sreehari Nimmala)
>writes:
>
>>I was reading a book about Hitler and came accross the mentioning of
>>Swastika many times. I thought I would clarify my doubt from
>>the learned people on SCI. Thats all. I am sorry if I bored
>>you or someone by asking this question.
>
>        Hey no problem, take it easy man...... I have been on
>        SCI for a while now, and some of these things keep popping up
>        every now and then. It generally makes me groan inwardly to see
>        another "sending money to India" or "islam vs. hinduism" or
>        "Imran vs. Kapil" or "x+1 syndrome" or "sc/st reservation"
>        or "Sridevi vs. some_babe" or some such thing  degenerate
>        into a 100 article thread.
>
>        So, I think the guy who gave vent to his frustration on the
>        rise of the swastika topic had his point. Anyway, no need
>        to apologise.... We're all friends buddy, in spite of our
>        flame-throwing prowess!! Enjoy the use of the net.
>
>        Prem!

 Just what i wanted to say. prem said it well. There is no reason to feel sorry
 or apologetic. Boring though it may be to SCI veterans there are always new
 recruits who are not aware of, in this case the differences of monumental
 importance between the Hindu and Nazi Swastikas. Also get used to getting
 flamed if you want to be an active SCIer.
                          In fact SCI is ( os is it used to be?) the most
 flame-intensive newsgroups on the net. Some sociologists or behavioral
 scientists (or who ever looks into these kinds of things) believe that flaming
 is part and parcel of computer mediated discussions and a certain amount of
 flaming is an index of its 'healthiness'. People on other newsgroups
 envy (or used to envy SCI) on the assumption that greater the flames the
 healthier and "robuster" a newsgroup is. Sreedhar's flame was actually very
 mild compared to what we used to see some months ago. And i think it was a
 witty piece of sircasm. Just to prove that you have acquired the right SCI
 spirit you can start asking all the questions Sreedhar was mentioning, like
 what is FAQ, VSAP etc, where was Sonia sighted last etc. An ounce of
 inquisitiveness is better than a pound of ignorance you know.

 By the way whatever happened to  flame throwing of the good old days. I fallow
 the SCI once in 4 months to see how the flame wars are doing. Compared to the
 SCI of the past this SCI looks so tame and "unanarchic". Can some perceptive
 fallower of the SCI let us know when and how this change took place? and
 reasons for the change.For those of you who miss the good old flame throwing
 days there are some good alternatives: First there is a mailing list called
 INDIA-D in which the flame spirint is still alive. To subscribe to it send a
 one line message to add@andy.bgsu.edu with the line:

      subscribe INDIA-D <your login> <your name>

 You will get a daily "discussion sheet" in your mail. The last time i was
 subscribing to it there was several dozen artical thread on "INDIAN MADONNA".
 Lot of flame and very little discussion.I read atleast 10 of the articles and
 did not clearly understand what they were talking about. I vaguely understood
 that one group strongly felt that India needed a Madonna and the other group
 was not so strongly feeling this necessity and hence making frivolous and
 disgressive remarks.

  Another option is to check in on soc.culture.afghanistan. Some time after
 the Mujahideen took over Afghanistan the SCA was taken over by non-Afghans.
 While most of the time postings are newswire releases on a wide range of
 topics ranging from the plight of muslims in Bosnia to ... in Algeria, quite a
 few times some OPINIONS are expressed.Once in a while some INDIAN (not very
 frequently, these days) reading these articles feels like expressing his
 opinions and you have the necessary ingredients for an ideal flame war.

 Virtually,
 Sashidhar.

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian