What is a newsgroup for?

Some of you seem to think a newsgroup is for the exchange of news and information relating to a common interest subject. Well, yes, but if you adhere too closely to that course the group will be deadly dull and will eventually die. There is only so much that can be said about the nuts and bolts of bikes and that is equally true about where and how we ride our bikes. An awful lot of newsgroup discussion just ends up being banter. This is not a good back up to the subject being exhausted. It is far better to go off topic and have some real discussion instead of just mindless banter. After all, none of us know one another and we never will. Why pretend otherwise.

A newsgroup is actually a discussion group which can be about anything but the common denominator is that we all have an interest in a single subject, in our case, recumbent bicycles. That common denominator is what holds us together. But what we talk about need not and should not be restricted to that common denominator.

The best discussions on ARBR that I have witnessed (other than my own discussions of course) are those having to do with related topics like mass bike-in demonstrations and helmet laws and how to be safe in traffic. All such discussions are going to wander off topic and that should be encouraged, not discouraged. We are not one dimensional in our lives and we should not be one dimensional in a newsgroup either.

The very best discussions are controversial where everyone is disagreeing with one another. Surely that is what a newsgroup is for. To think that a newsgroup is for staying on topic and exchanging bits and pieces of information is insane. Just remember the common denominator and take it from there.

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Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

A troll is someone like me Ed Dolan who will disrupt a
recumbent newsgroup for no other purpose than disrupting it.
I, Edward Dolan of the Great White Minn am a troll.
It matters not whether I am spaming or off topic or vulgar
or whatever. My messages are not cycling related to anything that
has previously been said on any thread. They are not responsive.

I, Ed Dolan am a troll on A.R.B.R. and always have been.
My messages are always custom designed for whatever message I
respond to (except recumbent related). No time and effort
has gone into them. It matters not if my messages are off topic.
The critical thing is that they are lame. They are customized
lame crap and not just automated crap. It all is crap just the same.

I, Ed Dolan am a brainless idiot. I have my lard ass set up
to automatically relay messages to A.R.B.R. with total
nonsense. I, Ed Dolan am a can of spam for all newsgroups.
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Regards,

Ed Dolan Spam King of the Great White - Minnesota