Report 1: Social Psychology of USENET Newsgroups: Sweet Interaction

Alt.Food.Chocolate and Alt.Parenting.Solutions

The focus of this report will be about my experiences and new found interest in newsgroups. "What is a newsgroup?" you might ask. A newsgroup is a vehicle that allows people from all over the world to communicate with each other about a particular topic of interest. Newsgroups offer a variety of ways to keep current on certain topics, send and receive stimulating feedback, and once in a while, make a new acquaintance. In this report, you will find out how I got started in my newsgroups, what my experiences were like as a newsgroup member, and perhaps what can be learned from visiting a newsgroup. Before my preparation for this report, I knew nothing about newsgroups. I felt apprehensive, yet excited to learn how to "tap" into such a wonderful informational resource. My learning process in the world of newsgroups continues. I hope this report will spark an interest in you, and encourage you to begin your journey into the fascinating world of newsgroups.

Netscape is the fastest and easiest way to find a newsgroup. For my first "ride" through newsgroups, I took a chance with Netscapes's Destinations. I went to "alt.food.chocolate" because I love anything with chocolate on it, and I was curious about what people wrote about chocolate. When the newsgroup flashed onto the screen, I began clicking here and there, scrolling down what is referred to as "threads." I could view all the messages that were sent to this particular newsgroup, and check to see what kind of message each thread was addressing. I was pleasantly suprised to see how popular this newsgroup was. There were many messages that I was interested in reading. I noticed that some of the messages were recipes for chocolate foods, or questions about where to buy particular kinds of chocolates, and even a message about chocolate and your health. Many of the messages were even somewhat entertaining to read.

I decided to leave my fellow chocolate lovers and begin a new search using a different method. I chose Net Search within Netscape which took me to a variety of different search engines. I clicked on Excite and typed in "alt.parenting.solutions" at the query. I was immediately taken to a thread of recent messages about topics related to children and parenting. I was excited to see how many other newsgroups with similar topics overlap with my newsgroup. These will be nice for future reference.

Keeping track of messages and places that I visited was a bit difficult for me. My "newbie" status illustrates my primitive saving methods. I felt the most comfortable with using bookmarks to save and mark messages. It works, and right now it's practically the only way I know how to save things. After, accomplishing the small, yet challenging hurdle of "saving" methods, I decided to tackle the new concepts of posting, spaming, flaming, and replying. Again, my unfamiliarity with newsgroups, and the internet itself, cause me some anxiety over sending out a message that anyone could read. First, I read through many messages just to explore and understand the concept of flaming and spaming. Here is what I learned: flaming is when a message is posted with an unpopular comment or when there are differing opinions; and spaming is when a message is posted to numerous groups, sometimes containing a topic irrelevant to the group itself. I was already familiar with the definition of both concepts and quickly noticed the scarcity of flamed messages in both newsgroups. I would imagine that perhaps alt.parenting.solutions would offer the opportunity for someone to flame another. Just imagine if one parent strongly disagreed with another parent who wrote about differing parental techniques or solutions. I see the potential for this newsgroup getting very personal because many people are sharing their families with everyone reading the newsgroup. Many individuals give their home page address which contains family photos and pictures of their children. Spaming is another concept that I soon became familiar with. I noticed one message sent to alt.parenting (another newsgroup similar to mine which usually shares messages) that seemed to be way off the topic. It was actually a response to the original message sent which was titled: Why Christians Suck. The message had nothing to do with children or parents, but it was sent to about fifteen different newsgroups, which varied from alt.atheism, alt.energy.renewable, alt.homosexual, to alt.parenting. The whole concept is just a little too weird for me!

Despite the differences in newsgroups, I did find something both groups had in common. The reading was very easy because even the replies contained a portion of the original message so a newcomer would understand the message. Arrows (">") were used to indicate the portion of the original message being quoted. The quoted messages were often italicized too. The reply would then follow without any arrows, indicating the difference between messages. The majority of the postings were also cautious about covering only one topic per message. Here is an example from alt.food.chocolateregarding a message about chocolate's potential to cause serious health problems:

GarethGee wrote:
>
> Scientists know believe that excessive eating
> of Chocolate can lead to heart failure.
>
> --
> GarethGee
are these the same sort of 'scientists' who told us eggs were good for us, then they were bad for us, now they are good for us again? That saccarine was safe, than it wasn't? and a bazillion other such 'conclusions'?

Within the past few weeks as I followed each newsgroup I couldn't find any flames. The people in both groups are just too polite. I'm not complaining though. Flaming isn't my idea of fun. I just don't care to try it, or read it. It makes me feel bad when I read something someone else wrote about another message that reflects hostility or vulgarity. Even a disagreement makes me uncomfortable. Here is an example of a disagreement in alt.parenting.solutionsthat also shows how predictable or unpredictable a response can be to a message. The post, sent from nhzero@edial.com(ZERo), is in regards to another message sent previous about someone selling "Beanie Babies".

iluvpits@aol.com (I luv pits) wrote:
> $15 dollars???
> Do you have a $500 Tickle Me Elmo, too?
Don't blast her too much, the Beanie Baby company retires a few of their lines every six months, therefore making them collectibles. A friend of mine said that some REALLY old ones go for $200 each or so. Don't blast other people's collections.

As I mentioned before, my unfamiliarity with newsgroups prompted a variety of feelings. I experienced quite a bit of anxiety before finally getting up enough nerve to post a small message. I believe it was a couple of weeks before I actually felt comfortable with all of the buttons to press, and having the right message in mind. I decided to remain neutral in my attempt to just "practice" being an active member. So, I decided to just send a reply to "alt.parenting.solutions". The topic was about children and zippers. The original message came from a mother who was worried about her infant when a thread in the baby's pajama outfit got wrapped around her toe. Some parents responded with helpful tips or just other comments in general about the message. But, one reply was in regards to exercising caution with zippers too, especially for little boys. I have a son and some experience with this topic, so I sent a short reply commenting on the truth of the message posted before me. I didn't expect a reply and didn't receive one. I just wanted to experience the feeling of typing out a message and sending it out for everyone to see. It worked! I feel less anxiety than before.

Originally, I was reading the messages and viewing the threads through Excite in DejaNews. I liked the way the messages are presented because they are listed by subject. There are many other parenting and children newsgroups that overlap one another, therefore I am given the opportunity to check out other newsgroups that I might be interested in joining. The date is listed first with the subject and author listed in a bright blue color font. The newsgroup is listed between the "blues" in a black color font. The format is just appealing to the eye and I would recommend using this search engine to any newcomer to newsgroups. Now, I prefer using Netscape News, because I can view the thread and read the message at the same time without having to deal with the hassle of clicking back and forth between screens. After using the last few weeks, or so, browsing through newsgroups, I've picked up an interest in using them. Newsgroups are very informative, very current, and accesses information that you might otherwise spend hours on the phone trying to retrieve. I'm finding particular interest in my "alt.parenting.solutions" newsgroup. It's just so cool to read what other parents have to say on just every day issues. The more I participate in newsgroups and the more experience I gain from being in a newsgroup, the more I think I will see long-term improvements in my internet knowledge, and just in communicating through the internet, in general. I am excited to see what is in store for my future in newsgroups!

My journey through the world of newsgroups was difficult at times because of my inexperience with the internet. Despite the fact that I was learning as I went along, I still felt as though I needed someone or something to just give me a introduction to the etiquette of using the internet, and even informing me of the advantages of joining a newsgroup (besides the obvious entertainment value). I used Netscape 3.0 as my browser of choice, only because I am most familiar with it. Then, I went to Excite (I guess I can it is my favorite search engine) and did a word search for newsgroup jargon. Many different articles appeared but there was one in particular that caught my attention: the article readNewsgroups to the Rescue.It listed many advantages to belonging to a newsgroup, or at least participating in one. I was suprised at how much more there is to a newsgroup than what we, as a class, have already done. For those of you who want to learn more about newsgroups before beginning your journey, I suggest reading this article.

Oh, and as a side note: this article is linked to the Internet World home pagewhich offers a variety of other resources and tips.

FYI

Go to Newbies Net Guideor visitCybersoireefor tips and tools for a more successful journey through the internet!