From: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org (alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest) To: ammf-digest@smoe.org Subject: alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest V5 #68 Reply-To: ammf@fruvous.com Sender: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest Sunday, March 4 2001 Volume 05 : Number 068 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Usenet 101 ["A.J. LoCicero" ] Re: Usenet 101 ["Paul Skudlarek" ] "Insanity on the Airwaves" 3/3/2001 [Keith Rose Subject: Usenet 101 This was recently pointed out to me by someone. It comes from here: http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-argueusenet.html I thought we could all do with a litter refresher course on how to do this newsgroup thing. Granted some of us are already masters at this :) but others have a lot to learn. Enjoy! A.J. - -------------------------------- People come up and talk to me, usually on public transit, wanting to know how to access the newsgroups on the Internet so the terrible urges will go away. I try to give these people what help I can stand, but it saddens and distracts me to know how many out there don't know how to properly behave on that great landfill of the intellect known as Usenet. It is for them that this guide was created. Picking a Battle Feel free to argue about anything that interests you, but keep this in mind: you have a moral obligation to challenge people's assumptions, particularly the assumption that they're not morons. So make sure that you pick the newsgroup where the most people are going to disagree with you. A simple template for your first post: "People who are into [insert subject of newsgroup] are such losers!" A Life, The Getting Thereof There are only two valid activities in this world: personally attending to the injured and hungry, and picking fights in newsgroups. Everything else -- from political protest to playing "go" -- indicates someone who has too much spare time and needs to get a life. Point this out to them: they'll thank you for it later. Censorship Whenever anyone calls you a chowderhead, tells you they've heard more coherent statements from randomly arranged Scrabble tiles, or disagrees with you, they are practicing censorship. People who believe in free speech keep their opinions to themselves. Except you, of course. Your Opponents Remember, the forces of those who disagree with you are a monolith of credulity and/or skepticism. You can freely assume that any one of them is a spokesperson for the whole mob. If one person who believes in gay rights also believes that the egg salad sandwiches at the 7-11 are controlling his mind, they all do! Name Calling Please do! One important thing, though: don't actually refer to your opponent's argument. This just distracts from the refreshing change of pace found in speculating about his or her social life, sexual practices, and possible theoretical criminal background. Extra bonus hint: come up with a mocking variation on your adversary's name and use that in all postings. Proof Once you've reached a stalemate on an unanswerable subject (Existence of God, Death Star vs. Enterprise, &c.), that doesn't mean the fun has to end there. Oh, heavens no! Try arguing about who has the "burden of proof." Remember to say "Occam's Razor" a lot. Occam was a fun guy who loved to have his name invoked in arguments about whether daisies can think. He would have agreed with you. Winning This one's pretty obvious: you win when you say you win. After all, who's more qualified to judge the depth and wit of your reasoning than yourself? So make sure to keep everyone informed by reminding them in each post that you are winning, or more accurately that you've won and are just continuing the discussion because your tea isn't done yet. Emergency Back-Up Plan Sometimes things don't go right, and you may find yourself fleetingly doubting your ironclad arguments. When this happens, do not question yourself! Who knows where that could lead? Instead, if you must, stop arguing. However, you can't leave people with the impression that you were wrong, so make as much noise about not arguing as you can. Explain that your opponent is not worth responding to, that they are biased and "PC" (it doesn't matter what the argument is: "PC" is now a synonym for "inclined to disagree with me"), and that you will no longer respond to them, except possibly to explain a couple more times why you're not responding. Then pat yourself on the back for a job well done. - -- "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." - --G.W. Bush, Townsend, TN., Feb. 21, 2001 Email:aj@locicero.org ICQ: 13117113 AIM: locicero For some of the best Long Distance and Calling Card rates around visit http://www.ld.net/?sensible. Cheap rates and *I* get a commission! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2001 17:53:31 GMT From: "Paul Skudlarek" Subject: Re: Usenet 101 Hehe... I love it. :) The arguments and flame wars and such are usually why I tend to lurk on NG's alot and keep my mouth shut... ...or maybe it's just my general lack of opinion on everything. :) nah, maybe not. - -- Pauley +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Paul L. Skudlarek | | Student, Department of Information Technology | | Rochester Institute of Technology | | E-mail: Pauley@mail.rit.edu AIM: Pauley2483 ICQ: 7410094 | | http://www.rit.edu/~pls5159/ Amateur Radio: KC2FQD | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2001 15:40:10 -0600 From: Keith Rose Subject: "Insanity on the Airwaves" 3/3/2001 Today will be "Play a bunch of tunes that have recently arrived in the mail for the show day!" Many things come in the mailbox and now it's up to you, the listeners, to tell me if the stuff is good or if I should lock it away in a vault never to be released (I may be putting a pole on the web site of the new stuff that came across today's show). And of course the request lines will be open, so call in and tell me to play something. 920-832-6566! Keith Rose aka Keeter Man Host of "Insanity on the Airwaves" Saturdays 6-7:30 PM Central Time 91.1, WLFM, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI Show also available via Internet Feed at http://www.TheLandOfDementia.com:8000 (MP3 stream, WinAmp or RealPlayer required) http://www.subtrivial.com/insanity/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2001 23:02:10 +0500 From: tripwinner@aol.com Subject: Congratulations, You're a finalist ------------------------------ End of alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest V5 #68 *******************************************