Does your S-I-L watch any soaps? She's never actally said but I'm sure there is something we would call a soap over there that she watches.  They are getting E.R. now and she loves that as well as Friends.  They were a season or two behind us and she would always ask what was going to happen so she could lord it over her co-workers.    ~Lindy~

Donna said: It's important that people know & understand that Usenet is not Message Boards & what's different. I don't think so much anymore.  It was meant to get the idea across to my sis-in-law in England.  Not sure she would have understood if I had said Usenet .   Message Board got the idea across and she knew exactly what I was talking about.  Not even sure anyone in the USA knows what Usenet means anymore.  The ISP's certainly don't.  It's more of a I've been here longer than you and know exactly what Usenet is type of thing these days.  Again, this was not meant to be posted to the group and I wish I could figure out how it was.  It certainly won't happen again. I meant that it is important to people to know who are on Usenet reading & posting. It certainly doesn't apply to the email you were attempting to send to your S-I-L in England & I agree that 'message board' was completely useful for that purpose. When I said it, I had no way of knowing it wasn't what it seemed to be. The fact that in general the ISPs don't care & don't know, though, might contribute to user's need to know, etc. rather than take away from it! Disagree completely that any of it has anything to do with any kind of a useless 'veteran versus newbie' perspective, though. AFAI am concerned that rationale doesn't make any sense. But, when it comes to valuable information veterans can help newbies, newbies can help veterans, every which way, ... there's not just one way that people can help each other with info. Most of the people who have no idea why there is a need for citing, quoting or brief paraphrasing, for one example, think that Usenet works the same way that web fora do, etc. Understanding why they are different sometimes helps some people *get* one very elementary way that posting needs to vary.

I mean it's not like you can tell someone to go to Usenet to see what you're talking about or join in. Again, I don't know what you mean. I can, do & have told people about RATS, for example, a little about it, how to access it, etc., etc. for years. In the same sense there are certain websites, forum or chat sites or whatever, that I have told people about & a little about them & so forth. It's helpful often to people to know a bit about what to expect in a new place. Otherwise, I had already answered your question, I think, via one example, in another post before seeing this one. If I didn't answer it to your satisfaction, please holler back. I'm relatively foggy tonight, so anything is possible.

This is always and exclusively a public discussion forum for me. Then, I'd suggest heading back to public issues. And, uh, if you were poking fun at me, if it was a joke, a tease, all you had to do was say so - and that would have been the end of it, except for me making a jocular reply.

Does your S-I-L watch any soaps? She's never actally said but I'm sure there is something we would call a soap over there that she watches.  They are getting E.R. now and she loves that as well as Friends.  They were a season or two behind us and she would always ask what was going to happen so she could lord it over her co-workers. Neat! I think the reverse happened on the new Battlestar Galactica in that it was a Universal (NBC-SCIFI etc.) and SKY co-venture & they aired it on SKY first ... uh-oh! Talk about spoilers! And, bit torrents, whatever they are.

would have put a Y&R in the header.  My mistake.   ~Lindy~ Hey, I've had that happen to me before. I thought I was sending an email to a friend in the group, but I hit the compose message in email while reading the newsgroup, and it posted to the group instead of my friend. Just be glad we weren't badmouthing everybody when we did it. LOL Cheri