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...continued. Starting up a WebTV newsgroup is very hard because voting on whether or not to allow one to be created has become more political than anything else. If you do get one passed, then you have to deal with the same potential problem of trolls and groups of trolls. Not every group can be moderated, and you can't effectively keep trouble makers out, so there once seemed to be no solution. Then came the invention of the Club Groups. These groups differ from regular alt.discuss groups in that the place, the user name, or the handle (of the group owner/moderator) is in the title of the group, and that person is responsible for who posts what in their group. For example, I've seen the alt.discuss.real-audio newsgroup flooded with 1200 empty posts. When someone tried the same tactics in a Club Group, the posts stopped at about ten. There are two types of Club Groups, one public and the other private. In the public groups, everyone is welcome to post as long as the entries pertain to the group's subject heading, but if someone gets off-topic, the moderator of the group can ban that person from further posting there. The private groups are by invitation only, usually using an email list as membership credentials. Now, the first thing that some people say is that this can be abused and that the owner can censor what he or she doesn't like. People will cry for their first amendment rights. But remember signs in businesses that say, "we reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone?" This is not the result of prejudice, rather it's an effort to keep order. Say you wanted to eat at a five star restaurant, yet you were dressed in a sweat suit and sneakers. You think they would let you in the door dressed like that? I'll bet somebody has sued over it. But my point is that free speech is not free in all venues. Sometimes you have to limit the parameters of speech, and limiting access of individuals tempted to cause trouble in order to preserve an environment conducive to conversation, and not personal insults and flames, may be the best solution. I do believe that this is more of a deterrent to trolls than "professional" troll fighters. With the ease with which Club Groups can be created, more will start to show up as an alternative to alt.discuss. As individuals become more disenchanted with the Bull Durham that goes on in the newsgroups, they will turn more and more to this new forum. At last count, there were about 165 Club Groups - and the numbers are growing. These groups offer as wide a range of topics as alt.discuss, but without the trolls. If one shows their ugly head, they are banned. This goes for spammers, also. Personally, I hope these groups succeed as they provide an alternative to the troll-filled newsgroups and give WebTV users a clearer voice with which to be heard.
WebTV Public Newsgroup Clubs:
Since the completion of this article, the number of Club Groups has more than tripled. There are now over 850 private and public clubs in existence. This gives WebTV users an even larger array to choose from. The flaming and trolling of the newsgroups are still going strong; therefore, this attractive alternative has become even more welcomed. Below, you will find two groups that may be useful in establishing your own Club Group, along with a smattering of a few select ones that we thought might be of interest to you. WNN viewed a list of the first fifty public groups listed in the WebTV "Community" pages, then selected a small example to share here with our readers. The inclusion of a group in the list below does not signify the endorsement of WebNewsNow, its staff, or editors.
alt.discuss.announce.clubs
alt.discuss.clubs.announce alt.discuss.clubs.public.webtv.news.club-4-webha
alt.discuss.clubs.public.webtv.misc.club-ebay
alt.discuss.clubs.public.talk.misc.openafterhours
alt.discuss.clubs.public.arts-lit.misc.starr2099
alt.discuss.clubs.public.family.parenting.mamamar-5
alt.discuss.clubs.public.health.misc.etxfreespirit
alt.discuss.clubs.public.health.support.cloneice
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