[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 humor; e.g., the group alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork which
originated as a birthday joke for a Muppets fan, or any number of
specialized abuse groups named after particularly notorious
flamers, e.g., alt.weemba.