[net.suicide] where it came from

keithe@sri-unix (11/18/82)

For all those of you out there who are wondering "Where on earth did
this newsgroup come from" here's the answer:

(It's here for those who AREN'T wondering, I suppose, too...)

Way back when somebody wanted to start a group to discuss his/her/its
favorite hobby - motorcycling. As is proper ettiquette (sp?) (grammar?)
he/she/it submitted the idea to net.general to determine (a) the
desirability  of such a discussion group and (b) a proper name for the
group. Should it be net.motorcycles (perhaps too long for 14-character
file names)? Should it be net.mc (what the heck is an "mc"?) Or what?
Then some wag suggested that it should be named net.suicide, stating
his/her/its view of the sport. Well, it took essentially zero time for
folks to start submitting stuff, but then it sort of died out. It seems
to get ressurected occasionally as a new site or new user comes on-line
and discovers it. The rest of us usually ignore it.

By the way - maybe somebody should archive this note and pass it on to
new sites that come up on the net.news system. It might save the rest
of us a lot of time/bandwidth/money.

Not afraid to kill my name -

Keath Earicksen 
Teklabs

geo (11/22/82)

I beg to differ.
I remember the first half dozen submissions to net.suicide
were quite interesting and serious discussions of the season
during which most suicides occur.  As I recall, contrary to 
popular belief, the season was spring-time not Christmas.

pcmcgeer (11/22/82)

	Right.  Dead serious.