benson (02/27/83)
Often the discussion in one news group or another will shift to something quite different from its intentions, For example, there was a long discussion in net.singles about whether human flesh was kosher. This drift in the subject matter of the news groups makes some of the readers extremely nervous and they send out advisory letters about the appropriate place to put this new discussion. I think these advisors are missing the real thrust of the non-technical news groups. These groups seem to me to be like conversations at a cocktail party. A group of people, often strangers to ane another, meet and begin talking about some subject. The talk is good but tends to drift as new experiences and topics arise. People drift in and out of the conversations easily, as they search for conversations that fit their bent. The net news is a user-friendly cocktail party conversation. You can be in any number of conversations at once. You can skip over someone else's dull remarks with a flick of your 'n'. You can compose your remarks in the privacy of your own editor before you send your remarks to the group. And if you don't like the conversation, you can leave without even saying, "Excuse me." In such an environment, it would seem reasonable to allow the topic of conversation to find its own way. The technical groups are different of course, being primarily requests and responses to requests. They have an expressed purpose that really doesn't brook changing. You couldn't have a discussion of new newssites in the group on "C". The non-technical news groups might do well to allow topics to drift. We might even set up numbered conversations to do away with the tyranny of group names. These groups convene themselves and their topics are what the talker/writers make them. Peter Benson !decvax!ittvax!dcdwest