From: car377@druhi.ATT.COM (RogersC)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles.harley
Subject: Re: THE doh ROSTER
Summary: Veteran's Guide to Usenet Subgroup Subtleties
Date: 24 Dec 92 02:24:39 GMT

In article <5337@prcrs.prc.com>, terry@prcrs.prc.com (Terry Cunningham) writes:
> 
> What's the difference between rec.motorcycles and rec.motorcycles.harley ?

Beyond the name of the group, not a hell of a lot.  An obvious difference 
is that most of the Chucks are over in r.m and most of the Roids are over here.   :-)

The two groups tend to attract slightly different flavors of brand biggots,
but several of those cross-post, and you have to watch for a long time to figure
out whether any particular individual is really being nasty or just teasing.

You can pick up some really useful technical information here occasionally, if 
you can stomach the stuff you have to wade through to get it.  'Course, it's also 
that way over in r.m., although the volume of articles there is larger.  If history
is any example, it won't be that long before r.m.h catches up in this category.
There may be some sort of self-limiting mechanism that will prevent r.m.h from
growing to the same size as r.m. over time.  I am curious to see if that will be
the case.  If the number of participants follows the HD sales growth curve,
though, it should get pretty busy hereabouts.

There is also the usual run of harebrained folklore and 
self-serving propaganda in both places.  Curiously, there seems to be *more*
of the helmets-are-dangerous and loud-pipes-save-lives mythology in r.m. than
here, an outcome at odds with pre-election predictions. 

Some envisioned this group as a "protected" environment where those wishing to
discuss HD stuff could do so without having to put up with anti-HD BS from 
clueless arrested-development riders of other brands.  It seems to have that
effect to a certain degree, although there are a few "regular" visitors who
don't seem to mind crossing group boundaries to provoke HD people for their
idle amusement.  However, the general absence of the aforementioned clueless 
ones seems to be more than offset by the curmudgeons of the 
Evos-Aren't-Real-Harleys-and-Yuppies-Aren't-Real-Riders faction, a group 
that seems to have found a home here.  I guess it doesn't matter how you try 
to restrict the membership, you'll always get a percentage that can't seem to 
resist putting down someone else's riding choices.

Those hoping for a sheltered place from which to spew racist/sexist/homphobic/etc. 
drivel are probably sadly disappointed:  it seems there are just as many 
live-and-let-live, informed, reasonable, practical *motorcyclists* 
here as in any other group.  They aren't any more enamored of that crap
than are their counterparts over in r.m.

> Not a damn thing as near as I can tell.  Same old US vs Jap wars, same
> tired wars over lane splitting, helmets, size of yer dicks; 
> a secret club thats really 'just a joke'.....

The doh is *not* secret.  Well, except for what "doh" actually
stands for, that is.  Nobody actually knows that, though, so
it's not like we're intentionally keeping it hidden.  :-)

(In fact, if we actually *knew* what "doh" stands for, it wouldn't be
 nearly as much fun to claim membership, eh?)

As for "Same old", what exactly do you expect motorcyclists to talk about?
The number of popular motorcycle-relevant topics is limited, and
with the constant arrival/departure of participants, re-hashing is inevitable.
When you've seen every argument 10 times, you have to find something else
to hold your interest, unless you are really, REALLY easily amused.  For
me, the attracting factor in *both* groups is the silly people.

Silly people are like headlice.  Mmmmm, bad analogy.  Silly people
are like brand biggots.  You're always going to have a few, no matter
how hard you try to rid yourself of them.   You'll also always have 
a few that are endlessy irritated at the silly people and their silliness.
Fortunately, both of these groups are easily dealt with via the 'n'
key or something like it, if you find you can't tolerate them.  Of course, 
you can always become a silly person yourself, a course I highly recommend.

> Explain to me once again the point of this news group and why it's
> different from r.m

It exists for no other purpose than to please the people who desire its
existence, and who regularly participate here because of that desire.  It
doesn't matter whether it is truly different in any real sense from any
other group.  

For those folks hoping to find a place devoid of humor or diverse personalities 
or human failings/brilliance or "noise" (typically defined as anything *I* 
don't like or consider appropriate for the venue), a broadcast medium like 
Netnews is probably not the best place to look.

Happy Holidays and Safe Rides
Chuck ("Roid") Rogers
doh #0000001340 (one of two)

(I had the instructions that explain what doh stands for, but I lost them.) :-(

Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles.harley