History of this newsgroup?

[cosmichobo]

G'day,

Is there a website or other source with information regarding the
origins of this newsgroup?

I'm writing an essay on media audiences and in particular fans and
technology, and was wanting to refer to this newsgroup...

(Whilst my nick may not be that recognisable, I have been a casual
poster here for about 11 years...)


cheers and thanks

cosmic

[Shannon Patrick Sullivan]

Post by cosmichobo
Is there a website or other source with information regarding the
origins of this newsgroup?

There isn't, but here's an edited version of a post I made last year.
Obviously, if you need any more information, feel free to ask questions.

"The predecessor to rec.arts.drwho was called net.tv.drwho, and it appears
to have been created on December 19th, 1983 by someone with the handle
'chuq'.

"The first non-meta post to the group seems to have been made by Lindsay
Cleveland of Atlanta, essentially asking that somebody post a
chronological list of Doctor Who episodes to that time.

"The creation of rec.arts.drwho itself took place in 1987."

Shannon

[Shannon Patrick Sullivan]

Whoops, I forgot for a minute there that I was posting to r.a.dw.moderated
and not r.a.dw!

The history of how the Moderated group came about is fairly
well-documented on Google Groups; search through the posts from
rec.arts.drwho and news.groups from around 2000-2001 and you should find
all the information you need.

Shannon

[cosmichobo]

Post by Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Whoops, I forgot for a minute there that I was posting to r.a.dw.moderated
and not r.a.dw!
The history of how the Moderated group came about is fairly
well-documented on Google Groups; search through the posts from
rec.arts.drwho and news.groups from around 2000-2001 and you should find
all the information you need.
Shannon

Thanks for the info, Shannon.

I was actually meaning "rec.arts.dr.who", not the moderated group,
although yes I did post to the mod group... Just thought my post would
be more easily spotted here than over there... (and yes, should
therefore have mentioned that in my original post - oops).

That's amazing that the original group was established 24 years ago!
The course text, "Media & Audiences", hyped the existence of
rec.arts.soapies, which was only formed in 1994. radw predates that
considerably; though I imagine it was a pretty quiet newsgroup back
then, just gauging on the numbers of people "online" pre the 1990's.

[Shannon Patrick Sullivan]

Post by cosmichobo
That's amazing that the original group was established 24 years ago!
The course text, "Media & Audiences", hyped the existence of
rec.arts.soapies, which was only formed in 1994. radw predates that
considerably; though I imagine it was a pretty quiet newsgroup back
then, just gauging on the numbers of people "online" pre the 1990's.

Well, the flip side of the coin is that Usenet itself was much more
popular, at least relatively, amongst Internet users in those -- this was
pre-Web, so message boards did not exist to siphon away posters, and IRC
was still a long way from its currently Messenger heyday.

(The peak of traffic in r.a.dw, incidentally, was 1996 -- around the time
of the TV Movie.)

Shannon

[Mark Geary]

Post by Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Well, the flip side of the coin is that Usenet itself was much more
popular, at least relatively, amongst Internet users in those -- this was
pre-Web ...

Yes, gopher seemed pretty neat back then.

Mark Geary

[MHW]

Post by Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Well, the flip side of the coin is that Usenet itself was much more
popular, at least relatively, amongst Internet users in those -- this was
pre-Web, so message boards did not exist to siphon away posters, and IRC
was still a long way from its currently Messenger heyday.

And there's all those internet developments that occured after the
19th century, too.

--
MHW

[Shannon Patrick Sullivan]

Post by MHW
And there's all those internet developments that occured after the
19th century, too.

Watch it, sonny, or I'll load up my blunderbuss and come over there in my
horseless carriage.

Shannon

[Mark Geary]

Post by Shannon Patrick Sullivan

Post by MHW
And there's all those internet developments that occured after the
19th century, too.

Watch it, sonny, or I'll load up my blunderbuss and come over there in my
horseless carriage.

Speaking of history, was the sequal to _The Overseers_ ever finished?
And is it available anywhere?

Mark Geary

[Shannon Patrick Sullivan]

Post by Mark Geary
Speaking of history, was the sequal to _The Overseers_ ever finished?
And is it available anywhere?

The sequel to "The Overseers" was completed, yes -- "Mastermind" came out
in 1993. (I remember hearing talk of converting it to digital some time
ago, but I have no idea what the status of that is.) The sequel to
"Mastermind" never did get finished, though.

Shannon

[James Farrar]

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:56:16 -0400, Shannon Patrick Sullivan

Post by Shannon Patrick Sullivan

Post by cosmichobo
Is there a website or other source with information regarding the
origins of this newsgroup?

There isn't, but here's an edited version of a post I made last year.
Obviously, if you need any more information, feel free to ask questions.
"The predecessor to rec.arts.drwho was called net.tv.drwho, and it appears
to have been created on December 19th, 1983 by someone with the handle
'chuq'.

Chuq von Rospach created a whole bunch of newsgroups back in the Good
Old Days. I believe he was part of the Backbone Cabal.