Social Psychology of USENET Newsgroups:
An Introduction to a New World of Communication and Interaction Using
Rec.Scuba and Misc.Health.Alternative
Spring 1997
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Newsgroups are a great way to communicate with other people and to share ideas and experiences. These groups are becoming increasingly popular with people from all walks of life. As a result, there are people like myself who are trying to understand how these newsgroups function. Some of the important areas this report covers are, 1) how do you use newsgroups, 2) what are the rules for participating, 3) how do people relay messages, 4) what is it like to participate in a newsgroup and 5) what are the effects of participating.
The first thing to establish here is what is a newsgroup? A newsgroup is created for people to take part in discussions about topics that interest them. Participants will post questions to the group as well as answer questions that others have asked. There are newsgroups that discuss topics like favorite celebrities, sports, travel, medicine, recreational activities (of all kinds), and just about anything else that might interest you. These newsgroups allow for a sharing of information between individuals who might otherwise not have had the chance to meet.
Before I was able to begin observing newsgroups, I had to find a way to get to the newsgroups that interested me. There are several ways to search for newsgroups. The first one that I tried was by using the University of Washington PINE system. This is the same program that I use for e-mail. PINE allows you to list all the available newsgroups that the server subscribes to. As far as I know, the University of Hawaii doesn't sensor any newsgroups, so I was able to get access to all of them. You can search for a specific newsgroup by typing in words that relate to the topic, i.e. "Barbie", if you are interested in Barbie dolls. The program will then search for newsgroups with Barbie in the title. If you don't see a newsgroup that interests you, try using search words that are related, in the example, you could try using the word "Dolls". If you see a
newsgroup that interests you follow the instructions on how to subscribe to it and then you will be able to read and post messages to that group.
Another method to search for newsgroups that I utilized is the
Netscape program. Netscape has the ability to access search engines like AltaVista, Excite and Infoseek that will search for newsgroups. I liked the
AltaVista program and did a lot of searching with it. Searching is a little easier in Netscape than it is with the PINE program because it will provide more possibilities for you to choose from, which in turn makes searching easier.
What I liked to do was to find a newsgroup by using Netscape and then subscribe to it in PINE. There are thousands of newsgroups, and I found that I could do a more thorough search in a program like AltaVista than simply using the PINE system. However, I did prefer to retrieve my messages from PINE. This saved me some confusion as well, because I knew that all the newsgroups that I was subscribing to could be found in my PINE account. It made the process a lot simpler because I didn't need to switch back and forth between PINE and Netscape to view my newsgroups.
After searching around for different items of interest, I was finally able to decide on two newsgroups that seemed interesting. The first one is
rec.scuba. Although I don't dive, I was interested in learning more before I started to take lessons. The second group that I chose was
misc.health.alternative. This newsgroup is a place where people can share information about natural, holistic medicines. Although I haven't used holistic medicine before, I think that it is something that I would like to learn more about.
There are several key terms that you need to know when using newsgroups. One of those terms is posting. This means you have written a message and have sent it so that other members of the group can read it. Posting is how people in newsgroups communicate with each other. If I have something I want to say, I would write a message and then post it to the group and hope for a response. Just remember, when you post a message to a newsgroup, there is the possibility of thousands, even millions of people reading your message. Make sure that you read it over and are certain of the content before sending it off.
Another important term is the thread. A thread is a group of messages that all relate to the same topic. For example, if John Doe posts a message about Persian Cats in his pet newsgroup, and people begin responding specifically to that message, John Doe has started a thread. Threads can be very short, one or two responses, or extremely long, over a hundred posts. Looking at threads is a great way to learn more about the newsgroup and how it works.
There can be literally thousands of messages in a newsgroups. It really varies from newsgroup to newsgroup. But one thing is certain, something you read today may be gone tomorrow. Messages are constantly being deleted from the newsgroup. When old messages are deleted vary from group to group, so don't take a chance. If you find something that really interests you, or that you want to be able to refer back to, you should either copy it or export for later use. I created a folder to save my messages in, which made finding them later very easy. This is the easiest method to keep those messages that you want to be able to read again later in the future.
Flagging messages is a good way to keep track of items that are interesting and relevant to you. Flagging will not save the message, only mark it so that you will be able to find it easily later. Once the message is deleted from the newsgroup, you won't be able to read it. In Netscape messages can be flagged by going under the Main Menu, under Messages, and selecting Flag Message. In PINE the flagging is done by using an "*" asterisk. Another useful function that is found in both PINE and Netscape is the ability to keep track of which messages you have already read. Being able to see which messages you have already viewed can be very useful when you're browsing around. Unread messages in PINE appear with an "N" on the far left. In Netscape News a small green diamond is lit in the center of the line until the message is read, then it will turn into a small gray dot.
The biggest problems that I encountered when I began were finding what I was looking for and figuring out how the search and viewing programs worked. One of the methods that worked best for me was trial and error! It is really difficult to do any damage when clicking around the screen and by checking things out, you start to learn how they work. Of course asking other people for help always works too!
Newsgroups have presented me with a new medium of communication. There is a whole new set of social interaction rules that need to observed and learned. One of the greatest difficulties that needs to be overcome when working with newsgroups is the fact that this is such a limited medium of communication. The person receiving your message is only able to read words on a page. There are no facial expressions or vocal intonations that can be used to help convey the meaning of your message. In face to face interactions, communication is facilitated with non-verbal cues. These nonverbal cues generally assist people in understanding messages and inferring information. Newsgroups don't even have the capability to bold or underline words for emphasis. What people do to compensate is by placing words in all capitals. This should only be done to add EMPHASIS, not to
write the entire message. Using all capital letters in a message is a characteristic of flaming (discussed later) and is looked down upon. I also noticed that some people will try to imitate underlining by doing the following "_example_". These are some of the devices that people use to work around the limitations presented by newsgroups.
One of the new words that I have learned is spamming, and I am rapidly beginning to understand why people speak of it with such contempt. Spamming occurs when someone posts material to several newsgroups that is not relevant to all of them. Advertisers are often guilty of spamming. They attempt to reach as many potential customers as possible by posting to multiple newsgroups. Individuals can also be labeled spammers when they post messages to multiple newsgroups. Some people are extremely anti-spam(and will let you know it!), others just ignore it. Spamming has the potential for slowing down computers and servers because it is essentially useless information that people are not interested in. In order to avoid spamming, you should only post to one newsgroup per message, unless it is absolutely relevant to several newsgroups. If you do spam, be prepared to
suffer the consequences. You may get some flame mail from unhappy newsgroup subscribers. That brings us to flaming, the newsgroup equivalent to expressing extreme annoyance! Flaming is done when someone strongly disagrees with something another said. It is often characterized by the use of capital letters and generally harsh language. People who spam will often receive flaming messages. Flaming can be done by posting to the entire newsgroup so that everyone can see you are irritated, or it can be done directly through e-mail. I suppose it would depend on how public you wanted your views to be known.
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Results of the Analysis: What is Newsgroup Behavior?
Responding to postings is an integral part of participating in newsgroups, it's one of the main ideas; being able to pose a question or thought and then having others respond. One of the techniques that people use when responding to postings is that they will include an excerpt from the original message in their response. This is useful for other readers who may be just joining a thread because it allows them to get the gist of the original message.
The length of the excerpt depends on the person who is posting. If the original message was brief, the responder often includes the entire message. If only a specific line is being responded to, then the message may include something similar to this from the misc.health.alternative newsgroup.
In article. . .Malcolm Macgregor
wrote:
>> I can buy bags of sucrose and fructose at the grocery store, but where
>> can I get glucose? Is it sold by the bag anywhere? Are there certain
>> foods that contain glucose as their only sugar?>I think honey contains only glucose, but check with health food store as I'm no expert. (Honey is recommended for the Reduced carbohydrate Diet, and I think its because it contains only simple sugars, probably glucose).
In this message, ">>" represented the original message and ">" indicated the response. This distinction is important because it can get confusing over what was the original message and what is the response. Sometimes people will respond to several things in one message. I find this very
annoying. It becomes very difficult to follow a post that does this. Brevity in
your messages is a good idea and is advisable to only cover one point in each
message. Most people do try to keep their messages to the point and easy to
understand, which in turn helps others. Of course there will always be those who
think that being brief became extinct with the dinosaurs.
The method used for responding to posts also seems to differ depending on the newsgroup. The
misc.health.alternative threads tend to be considerably shorter than the ones I found in
rec.scuba. I think that this is because of the limited topicality of many of the subjects. In the health newsgroup, people are asking questions that many people may not be familiar with. Medicine is an extremely broad field compared to scuba diving.
The threads in rec.scuba tend to longer because more people have had similar experiences and can contribute something to the discussion. The fact that the threads in rec.scuba can be quite long, can make them very difficult to follow if you aren't paying attention right from the start. People sometimes get flamed for posting something that is irrelevant to the conversation because they haven't been around for the entire thread. Always be cautious of this, don't assume that you understand the thread...always read the previous messages before posting. Posting new messages and participating in threads are very different and should be treated as such. You would post a new message if you had a new topic that you wanted to discuss or have others respond to. You would participate in a thread if you wanted to respond to something that others were
already discussing. When browsing through newsgroups you will find some topics that many people contribute to so the thread is extremely long. One example that I found was in the rec.scuba newsgroup. The topic of the thread was a request for information on a Black Diver's Association.
From: LUV2DIVEIN
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Black Divers Association
I have heard of this assoc. and was wondering how to get in touch. I can be Emailed at: LUV2DIVEIN @aol.com
The request was simple enough, but it sparked the creation of an extremely long thread, over 100 posts to date. People questioned the racial underpinnings of such an organization and why someone would even want to participate in it. I think that it was an innocent question that many people took offense to when they shouldn't have. The thread was so long because there were so many people who wanted to contribute, or felt compelled to.
Postings that elicit flaming are often as a result of someone spamming the newsgroup. Flaming can also occur when people completely disagree with one another. Certain people seem to be more likely to post flame messages than others. I don't know what their true personality is like, but in misc.health.alternative, one guy likes to be very assertive and when he posts he often belittles others who are contributing to the thread.
Subject: Re: HYDRAZINE SULFATE USERS PLEASE READ
From: ham@ix.netcom.com(William Mayers)
Wiz@oz.com (wizard) writes:
>The National Cancer Institute is notorious for playing games withcancer statistics...Detractors of the NCI are notorious for not being able to back up their accusations.
>How about the absurdity that allowed people to be declared "cured" of cancer because they lived 5 years after diagnosis - but in reality - they actually died of cancer!
Response:
How about acknowledging that you're merely guessing here? Where'd you get this little tidbit? Everyone dies, Mister Wiz - those who at some point develop cancer will also die - but the fact of their deaths does not show that they died of cancer. The fact that a person dies ofcancer does not mean it's the same cancer they had five, seven or ten years previously - in case you weren't aware, there are many different diseases we call "cancer". Want an example? OK - an aunt of mine was cured of skin cancer fifteen years before she died by having the skin cancer cut off. Died fifteen years later of small cell carcinoma of the lung. Completely cured of cancer, yet she died of cancer. Does the fact that she died of cancer show that the skin cancer killed her? I don't think so!
Mister Wizard - oz doesn't want your misrepresentations!
Bill Mayers, RT, RN
Although this message doesn't include capitalized letters that are characteristic of flaming, the tone is still very condescending. This particular member often presented information in this manner and seemed to be part of his normal style to correct others. The problem of course is that you never really know who is truly correct.
Disagreements take place in all areas of life, including the Internet and newsgroups. Newsgroups provide some shelter because there are no face to face confrontations. You can "yell" at someone and not have to worry that they are going to hit you. Most of the discussions that I read were very mature and rarely got out of hand. Granted, there are the occasions where people just can't stop criticizing one another and they are constantly
posting new messages. This gets old very quickly! Having a disagreement is healthy and it can be very productive, but sometimes people just don't know when a subject has been exhausted and should just be dropped. Generally, responses to posts can be helpful and interesting. If you ask for information, you will usually get it. If you ask for opinions, you'll usually get them to! It is a wonderful forum because if you are honest enough to just "be yourself" then you can take part in an excellent way of communicating with people who can help and even entertain you. Newsgroups also tend to be relatively flexible with topics and the direction of discussion. People are usually pretty patient with newcomers and will offer help if they can. Overall, I think that there is an expectation that you treat other members fairly and with respect. When this respect is violated, someone will usually say something to try and cool the situation down.
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What It's Like to Participate: Taking the Plunge!
Once I had gone through a Netscape search and selected which newsgroups to study and participate in, I had to devise a way of going through the messages. One of the easiest ways to do this is by looking at the topic of the message. In the rec.scuba newsgroup I could skip messages that said "........ For Sale", because I know that I'm not looking to buy any equipment. In the misc.health.alternative group, I looked at a lot of different messages because I wasn't specifically interested in any one problem. Sometimes it's a good idea to read messages that you may not be interested in, because it may provide good information. There are also the messages that have poor subject titles (like my first post), but thankfully, there were still people looking at my message. Of course, there will always be topics that interest you more than others and they can be fun to
follow. My initial readings of newsgroups provided a lot of information. I learned what types of topics the subscribers liked to discuss and what was "normal". In the rec.scuba newsgroup that I subscribed to, one of the favorite topics is dive locations. People like to discuss their favorite dive spots, tips on where to go, information on where to stay and the best time of year. I was interested in this newsgroup because I would like to learn to scuba dive sometime in the near future. However, the fact that I don't dive now, makes it a little difficult to follow some of the postings and threads because I don't understand the terminology. It took a long time for me to finally decide what kind of question to post. I was afraid of sounding like I didn't belong, and even the possibility of getting flamed! When I finally decided to post, this was the message I used.
From: kendra
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Need some general info.
Hi...I'm extremely interested in learning to scuba..but also totally intimidated! I would like to know a little more about what goes into getting certified. I live in Hawaii and there seem to be many dive shops that offer instruction...but I don't know what to look for.Any help would be appreciated.
kendra a. morgan
Once I had gotten up the nerve to post this message, I waited anxiously for a response. I dreaded the idea that no one would respond to my request for information. I checked the newsgroups frequently in hopes of an answer, but alas no one posted....but they did e-mail me directly (phew!). I received one response that gave me some basic information that wasn't too helpful. I also was able to correspond with a couple in Florida who were extremely helpful and enthusiastic about providing as much information as they could (I liked them!). Another type of message that I got was an advertisement. The advertisement was for a dive school that provided all types of training [very smart people]. I also received mail from a guy who essentially scolded me on my posting technique. He sent mail to me under the e-mail address "nospam@geocities.com" and at the end of the message he signed of as Mr. Scuba!
From: nospam@geocities.com
To: kendra
Subject: Re: Need some general info.
Here is how to find the information you seek. Follow the steps from the example below but _query the keywords for what wish to know about_ (i.e.scuba certification requirement* )Then come back to the group with_specific questions_ ( additional information provided).
I felt a little strange after reading this, and I must admit, a little embarrassed. Because he e-mailed as "nospam" I thought he felt I was performing some type of lower level spamming because I wasn't being specific! The message certainly didn't have a mean quality to it, but nonetheless I felt awkward. Since that posting, I have learned that being specific is a must if you want people to respond to you. People may not even bother to read your message if they don't feel it is something to they are interested in. Mr. Scuba did provide some good information for me in this respect.
When I am reading other messages, I try to look for topics that interest me. In the scuba section it is a little harder because I know very little about the technical aspects. I would often look for the threads that had about 5-6 messages and then read them. This is a good way to learn the way that the group functions. I was also interested in the threads that were extremely long. I was curious to know what it was that made them so popular. I didn't have many requirements for reading a message. Being new to the newsgroup world, I figured that sampling around would be the best way for me to learn. In the other newsgroup that I subscribed to misc.health.alternative, it was a little easier to follow, although participating was difficult because I didn't have many questions. I find the topic fascinating though.
There are so many non invasive ways to treat medical problems that many people have forgotten about. I don't think that these are necessarily going to work for everyone. It is important to be cautious when taking advice from newsgroups, although the advice may be sound, you should confirm the information with other sources before taking it. This is especially true of any medical claims that you read.
I don't think that I really have a posting style. Perhaps it hasn't developed yet because I have only posted five messages. I think that part of my problem here stems from the fact that I don't have a whole lot to contribute to either of the newsgroups that I follow. This makes deciding what to post very difficult. The most likely reason behind my posting is to learn more about the subject. Although this is not a bad objective, it is a limited one.
The potential of asking a question that no one cares to answer is entirely possible and it almost happened to me. This can create quite a conflict when deciding to post. I want to make sure that I get a response since I have a limited range of knowledge. I'm interested in scuba diving, but I haven't done it yet. I think that holistic and alternative medicines are interesting, but since I haven't used them, I'm not sick, and I have not studied the subject, I don't have a whole lot to add to the discussions. Although these things are true and my participation has been limited, I still feel I have learned a lot from the process. I am learning new things that I previously new nothing about, and I have been able to learn so much through simple observation.
I have been observing these groups for several weeks now and am learning
more each time that I read new postings. I have discovered a new way to learn about subjects that interest me, and a new way to get information from people who have considerably more knowledge on the subject. The effects that I am seeing in myself are that I want to look into other areas and perhaps find topics that I can participate in more easily...I guess that means I need to figure out what my interests are!Back to the Top
Annotated Index to Social Forces in Newsgroups:
Additional Sources of Information
Newsgroups and participation in them have become an area of interest in the field of psychology . Since newsgroup participation is growing everyday...there are bound to be people out there who want to study how these groups work socially. One of the key issues addressed by researchers is the additional social connections that newsgroups and on-line communities provide to its participants. Newsgroups allow for social interaction at another level rather than just face to face talking.
I found a couple of additional sources of information through two different methods. The first thing that I did was to look at the reports from previous classes to see if they had been able to find anything. From that search, I found Professor Suler at the Rider University
[As of November 2005, this website was no longer available]. I also did a search in Netscape which yielded a lot of problems. I was searching with words like "newsgroups", "Usenet","Internet","netiquette", and "psychology", these words encompass very broad topics so it was difficult to get accurate search results. I did find a thesis project that was done by Tim North
college student, on "The Culture of the Internet"
[As of November 2005, this website was no longer available]. A lot of work has gone into these pages and there is a considerable amount of helpful information on this new field of study.
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