Complex sentence: It was spun off from its un-moderated version, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5, in 1996, counts Straczynski as a frequent contributor, and was among the first Internet-based fora where fans interacted directly with a showrunner.
Split into simpler sentences: It was spun off from its un-moderated version, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5, in 1996. The newsgroup counts Straczynski as a frequent contributor, and was among the first Internet-based fora where fans interacted directly with a showrunner.