Newsgroup Posting: Right or Privilege?
February 18, 2010 - NewsAdmin Staff Writer

At one point in my past I spent so much time attending traffic school that I was on a first name basis with most of the instructors. I'm not proud of that period of my life... but when you're young, dumb and living in a world of "me, myself & I" you don't always consider the consequences of your actions as you push your Toyota Corolla toward the sound barrier in hopes of reaching your Friday night date on time. After numerous traffic school visits, and extensive electroshock therapy, I finally accepted the fact that driving was a privilege not a right. I was not entitled to a driver's license, and if I continued to drive on the sidewalk, ignore stop signs, and make the roadways unsafe for my fellow drivers I'd eventually lose that privilege altogether.

Posting within the newsgroups is not much different. You may have purchased an account with a Usenet provider, but that membership doesn't give you the right to post whatever you want, whenever you want. While it's true that Usenet fosters the free exchange of speech, there are also basic rules that discourage the trafficking of abusive or inappropriate posts. During your Usenet travels you've probably encountered folks that have taken great delight in ignoring these rules...

Random Thought Guy
Random Thought Guy may have insightful things to say about global warming, "American Idol" and carburetor repair, unfortunately he'll share those thoughts in "rec.woodworking". While no one ever knows where Random Thought Guy will pop-up next, or what he's going to say, you can safely bet that his messages will be posted into irrelevant newsgroups. Rather than allowing Random Thought Guy to turn a group into a personal soapbox, he should be encouraged to seek out applicable newsgroups for the different topics he wishes to discuss. If these folks are allowed to establish a foothold, they can quickly disrupt valid conversations and suck the life out of a group.

Indecisive Guy
While Indecisive Guy makes a best effort to post on-topic content, he occasionally struggles to select the most relevant newsgroup for his post. To get around this dilemma, Indecisive Guy will crosspost his message to 10 or more newsgroups. As an example, he might crosspost a photo of his pet cat Mr. Whiskers to "alt.binaries.pictures.animals", "alt.binaries.catfights", "alt.fishing.catfish" and "alt.witchcraft". Unlike Random Thought Guy, Indecisive Guy typically means well, and with a little guidance he can be converted into a productive newsgroup contributor.

Infomercial Guy
Whether it's refurbished electronic equipment, home loans, Rolex wristwatches or discount pharmaceuticals, Infomercial Guy hasn't met a product he didn't like and looks for every opportunity to bulk promote his goods across the entire Usenet community. Excessive commercial postings have never been welcome within the newsgroups, and while that hasn't stopped Infomercial Guy, it shouldn't stop you from reporting these knuckleheads to their respective Usenet providers. They disrupt newsgroups, they consume precious bandwidth and retention, they have no interest in becoming legitimate Usenet participants, and should consider moving their act to the Home Shopping Network.

Hall Monitor Guy
Hall Monitor Guy hunts Random Thought Guy, Indecisive Guy and Infomercial Guy within the newsgroups, and responds to each of their off-topic posts with off-topic posts of his own, such as "Get out of our group!", "Die spammer!", "Get out of our group and die spammer", etc. He means well... he really does... but what he fails to realize is that his reply posts are just as irrelevant, and only serve to compound the problem. If he can be shown the error of his ways, and instructed how to properly report abusive posts, Hall Monitor Guy can actually become a valuable asset to a newsgroup.

Usenet's fate ultimately rests in the hands of its end-users. In the event that you derive some benefit from the community don't allow the above mentioned folks to disrupt your favorite newsgroups. Remind their ISP, remind their Usenet provider that their newsgroup access is not an entitlement but a privilege that can be lost if it's abused.

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