From: rhodesia@wixer.cactus.org (Felix S. Gallo)
Subject: Re: alt.fan.cows ... or perhaps alt.humor.ascii-art
Followup-To: alt.config
Organization: Real/Time Communications
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 03:28:24 GMT

jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr) tries to keep going on and on and on and on:
>
>I am very serious about this.  People have generated terabytes of ASCII
>cows over the years and there seems to be no newsgroup that these ASCII
>cows are welcome in. 

You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that simply because
a number of people have done something stupid over and over, that a newsgroup
is mandated.

newsgroups are for interactive exchange of information.  There are a limited
number of idiotic pictures of cows, and also a limited amount of conversation
that can go on about them.  ("Wow.  That rendition was especially tedious."
"Yes.")  Nothing about ascii cows has any non-repetitive value whatsoever.

> Similarly, "cow humor" is very popular at
>agriculture-oriented schools and Lord knows we have enough cows here at
>Virginia Tech to make cow jokes all the rage. 

There are no points *on the face of the Earth* where cow jokes are "all
the rage", much less at a major American university.  However, let's assume
that your campus is so wretchedly benighted; might I recommend
va-tech.ascii.cows.masturbation.furr.furr.furr?

>  I feel that a cow-oriented
>alt. group would be a good net.citizen and would receive quite a few
>postings. 

In case any gentle reader out there is still caught in the "is Joel stupid,
or is he deliberately malicious?" question, let me point out that nobody
but nobody could say the above sentence with a straight face.  The kind of
self-absorbed morons who post old ascii cow lists that they've found are
probably correlated real well to inconsiderate, effusive crossposters.  
For example: look at Joel's recent posts in alt.config.

> I would, however, support changing the name to alt.humor.cows
>as opposed to making it another alt.fan group. 

You're so magnanimous.

>If the people who keep talking about how I've supported zillions of silly
>alt. groups actually _check_, they'll find that I sarcastically suggested
>alt.dev.null.mnemonics and alt.fan.catch-22.  Neither of which I pushed
>vigilantly for and both of which, at the time, were intended as sarcasm
>and taken as such by most people who read them and didn't follow up with
>bitter flames.  

Another point for those who can't figure Joel for stupid or malicious: he
neglects to mention that he's actually even tried to get dumb groups created
in the *mainstream* heirarchy, much less the alt heirarchy.  I don't want to
sound like George Bush, but there's a *pattern* here, and it can't be ignored.

Joel Furr believes that by being involved in creating a newsgroup, he'll gain
some number of experience points and perhaps some fame.  His bids for
recognition via following-up to interesting people's posts have so far failed,
and he's getting desperate for attention.  

>If people want an alt.humor.cows group, I'll listen. 

Again, you're so magnanimous.  I haven't seen a single other post in all of
usenet even mentioning the possibility that alt.humor.cows would be a good
idea, but I'm sure your loyal throngs are just biding their time..right?  right?

> If people think that
>another group won't be offended if all us cow fans show up there and post
>lots and lots of ASCII cows, then I'll listen when they suggest it. 

Good.  Listen carefully.  I've got three words for you: MISC DOT TEST.

>Rec.pets is out, as the last several times any cow ASCII art has been
>posted there, people have gone nuclear.  If people think a better name
>than alt.humor.cows exists, then I'll listen to that.  Temper-tantrums
>from jerks I don't listen to.

If you're really stricken by a need to post ascii art to usenet, then I think
the person who should be doing some listening is the systems administrator at
nyx.cs.du.edu.  Pathological, repetitive idiocy should be punishable by death,
but loss of usenet access might be acceptable as an interim solution.

Felix
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Felix Sebastian Gallo                              rhodesia@wixer.cactus.org
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