newgroup wars

/n[y]oo'groop worz/ [Usenet] The salvos of dueling

"newgroup" and "rmgroup" messages sometimes exchanged by

persons on opposite sides of a dispute over whether a

newsgroup should be created net-wide, or (even more

frequently) whether an obsolete one should be removed. These

usually settle out within a week or two as it becomes clear

whether the group has a natural constituency (usually, it

doesn't). At times, especially in the completely anarchic alt

hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become a form of

comment or humour; e.g. the spinoff of

alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork from alt.tv.muppets in early

1990, or any number of specialised abuse groups named after

particularly notorious flamers, e.g. alt.weemba.

[Jargon File]