[news.newusers.questions] What is alt.folklore.computers?

packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) (02/16/90)

I have conflicting information as to the existence of a newsgroup
called "alt.folklore.computers." We don't get it at our site and
a long list of all newsgroups I obtained by e-mail from Usenet
System Administration dated 1 Dec 1989 doesn't show it. Yet a
data set I obtained showing message traffic during December shows
alt.folklore.computers to be one of the most popular newsgroups.
Does this group exist, and if so, what kind of articles does it
contain?

tale@cs.rpi.edu (David C Lawrence) (02/17/90)

In <907@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer):

> We don't get it at our site and a long list of all newsgroups I
> obtained by e-mail from Usenet System Administration dated 1 Dec
> 1989 doesn't show it.

That's because it was created 5 December 1989, at about 1630 CDT (if
you're curious); the creator was at Indiana University.

> Does this group exist, and if so, what kind of articles does it contain?

Spaf's most recent posting of Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, last
posted to news.lists, news.groups and news.announce.newusers on 23
December 1989, has this blurb for it:

] alt.folklore.computers  Stories & anecdotes about computers (some true!).

Traffic was fairly high when I gave up reading it.  As with many
groups it is a mixture of thoughtful, interesting articles and
stories that many people have heard far too many times before.

Dave