Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: Why I'm such a shit
From: kilroy@acme.gen.nz (earthbound misfit, I)
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 93 05:28:41 GMT
Reply-To: kilroy@acme.gen.nz (earthbound misfit, I)
 <3PTyVB4w165w@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca> <DUKE.92Dec18182926@portal.paperboy.osf.org>
Organization: ACME BBS - Public Access Usenet, Palmerston North, New Zealand

duke@portal.paperboy.osf.org (Duke Robillard) writes:

> So, a couple of years ago, I find alt.angst.  At the time, it was
> filled with people sharing the same kind of opinions, reaching the
> same kind of conclusions, whistling in the Dark of Despair, and making
> snide remarks about the hopelessness of existence.
> 
> This created a sense of comraderie.  Apparently, one of the
> evolutionarily postive behaviours of the human race is the need to
> have mates, so I "enjoyed" this.  I even tried to call Xibo one night
> when I got drunk.

So in other words, you're basically upset because alt.angst is full of chatty
posts primarily about RelationshipAngst from a group of people who sort of
know each other? Whereas you want alt.angst to be full of chatty posts
primarily about The Void(tm) from a different group of people who sort of know
each other?

This is what I strongly believed to be the case. Which is why I've had more
than a little contempt for your attitude and your postings (except,
interestingly, the one I'm replying to. You may be telling the rest of us to
effectively Fuck Off but at least you're doing something a little more
substantive than your previous snide little posting-ettes). So I'm going to
say something which I've said before and I'll probably have to say again.

I've been reading alt.angst for quite a long time as well. At least since
Xibo's trip to Boston and New York (whenever the hell that was - I remember
the article, but it could have been anywhere from 12 to 24 months back). And I
liked it for much of the same reasons you express. You see, in some way you're
right. alt.angst should be about The Void, the total meaningless of existance.
And it has been in the past and probably will be again. But I think it's also
about relationship angst as well, to me that too is Angst and should be
Allowed (and you may have noticed more than a hint of RelationshipAngst in one
or two of the Great Xibo's articles from time to time).

And here is where we get to one of the Usenet Fundamental Truths, which you
nearly stumbled upon in your article. The name of a newsgroup is, relatively
speaking, meaningless. What determines the content and style of a newsgroup is
the people who post to it. Nothing more, it's that simple. So if the majority
of the posters want to talk about The Void, then that becomes the dominant
theme. And if the majority want to talk about RelationshipAngst (aka Sex and
it's lack thereof) then so be it. And if you don't like what the majority
wants to talk about, the only effective things you can do are not read the
group or post articles about the things you want to talk about. Meta-flames
replying to every article saying "That's Not Angst" and "You should talk about
The Void" are useless.

Needless to say, Lurkers don't get a vote. That's the cost of lurking.

And I've posted too many Meta-articles in recent times and not enough ones
about Angst, in any form. I intend to redress that.

						- k

-- 
Craig Harding            kilroy@acme.gen.nz             ACME BBS +64 6 3551342
"Jub'er lbh pnyyvat n obmb?"
Newsgroups: alt.angst,alt.suicide.holiday