> I believe rob recently said something about the original purpose was to have
> several newsgroup "branches" of alt.gathering rainbow so folks could go off
> and have several focuses going on at the same time including rainbows just
> talking to rainbows about whatever.
The idea was to splinter things down into alt.gathering.rainbow.kitchen,
alt.gathering.rainbow.calm, and alt.gathering.rainbow.parking. :-) Seriously
though, we went through this exact same discussion a year or two ago on
alt.hemp. No matter how many newsgroups you create, they all get to be the
same after awhile. So short of moderating a group, there really isn't any
other way to keep things on focus but by ourselves. Finally cause of the
flame wars, alt.hemp was kindof abandoned, and alot of the discussion
went on to moderated groups. That made each one alittle more of an inclusive
group, and the readership went *way* down. In many ways the splinter killed
the energy of the newsgroup. I'd hate to see this happen to AGR.
So it's up to *all* of us to "self-moderate" AGR. All it takes is alittle
thinking before posting. Say to yourself, "will this be of interest to
the folks on AGR?" ? It's hard to say what's on topic or what's off topic.
As human beings with belly buttons, we all have alot in common to talk about.
If people used private email much more, we'd have less of a traffic jam.
I also do think that AGR can be an effective way to help be organized
without leaders. We can do that anyway, regardless of the spam or flames.
Yes, the "good stuff" can get buried, but I think that as we all learn
alittle self-control, folks will know what to just delete and what to read.
It would be nice to see more logistical oriented messages, but it's up
to all of us to create the threads, and sustain them. When I see some of the
threads that go on for ages, I'm usually amazed at the sillyness of them.
But sometimes I also truly like the idle "chit-chat" when I have time to
read it. It gives AGR a more friendly and community feel. Oh yeah, MORFUN!
(although I could do without all the spam and flames too)
- rob -