In these troubled times it's tempting to start every column with, "In these troubled times Don't fret, this isn't going to be a column for the religion page or the big-thinker territory of Perspective. It's just that I realized the other day that a lot of folks with computers and Internet accounts don't know about--or don't think about--how useful a tool they have in a thing called the Usenet in these troubled times. Besides, when times aren't all that troubled, the Usenet can be a lot of fun. And for a great many people with rare hobbies or arcane professional or academic interests, it can be an amazing tool in good times, bad times or any time in between. The Usenet is better known as Internet newsgroups, and it once reigned supreme as the center of online life. It is a collection of message boards and servers bulging with file postings that the technologically adept used as an informal meeting place in happy times and as a communication center when things turned bad.


Judge dismisses gun charge against Kyle Rittenhouse


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Another listing of newsgroups in the "alt" hierarchy, Part 10 of Search the FAQ Archives. View all headers. Newsgroups: alt.
My colleagues in the Technology Impact Assessment directorate have shared their time, advice and knowledge. Winnie Pietrykowski deserves my thanks for her invaluable editor ial contribution. The division's Director, Helen McDonald, guided this project from the beginning -- it could not have been completed without her insight, conviction and counsel. The penultimate draft was read by an additional two dozen individuals from acros s the country - - active on-line luminaries, university professors, lawyers, law enforcement off icers and concerned citizens. I am grateful for their time and for the wisdom they offere d. Whatever errors remain are mine. The boundaries of offensive communication are a contested terrain. When we nego tiate the parameters of offensive communication we are not only threading our way through a maze of competing interests we are weaving the very pattern of our social fabric.