"Every Home Is Wired":
3 -- The Progressive Rock Community on the Net
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Other topics: Obviously, there will always be messages which do not clearly fit into any of the other categories. More importantly, too, this area contains the steady flow of off-topic posts which are common to all Internet newsgroups, and include articles ranging from deliberate junk mail to those caused by newsreader mishandling or malfunctions, to deliberate posting into (a variety of) unsuitable newsgroups in order to stir a confrontation ('trolling'). However, it should be noted again that not all crossposts fall into this category. Bit 32
Particular Aspects of Computer-Mediated Communities
It is clear, then, that while some of these forms of online community interaction could also take place in offline settings (centrally, this means in face-to-face communication), there are certain marked differences to FtF conversations. Newsgroups and mailing-lists allow participants to engage in numerous discussions (threads) at the same time, to split discussions into various sub-threads and move them elsewhere (into other newsgroups, or email), and to address one conversant as well as the entire newsgroup audience simultaneously. Additionally, since newsgroup postings are kept at news servers and in newsreader messagebases at least for a brief time, the medium is not entirely ephemeral, so that participants can retrace a conversation, potentially to avoid misunderstandings. Along with the relative asynchronicity of newsgroups (posts can be replied to at leisure, but should be answered soon enough to retain the flow of the discussion), this allows for more precise answers (which can also include part of the original message, to indicate the specific points that are receiving replies), and can increase the quality of a discussion. Finally, instead of summarising or repeating knowledge available elsewhere, users can also simply include links to other electronic resources (Web sites, or FAQs), avoiding needless repetition. Bit 33

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© 1998 Axel Bruns