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Yes, I would say it is very similar, only the means of communication is
different.
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Do“charters”(ormaybeFAQsisabetterword)getrewritten?Hasany-
one been a member of a
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group that changed its understanding of itself?
FAQs change regularly in most groups. 'Charter' (at least in the usenet
newsgroup sense) does not, without a formal voting process, as there is a
sort of over-riding admin structure (if people are willing to follow it) for
the 'big-8' groups (rec. comp. soc. news. etc).
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Have you been part of groups that changed?
Yes. A good example is the rec.scouting newsgroup. This used to be a
goodplaceforScoutingpeopletoexchangeideas.Thenitgotinvadedby
some religious bigots who were opposed to the Boy Scouts of America's
policy of not allowing gays to be Scout Leaders or another policy that
requiresaboytohavesomekindofareligiousbelief(itspecificallydoesn't
say what kind, but suggests there should be some belief).
Huge vitriolic flame-wars resulted, cross-posted to various religious
groups. Posts grew from 30 lines, to 300, to 3000 lines. People were call-
ing each other names, YELLING and ****screaming****!!!!! etc.
Iquitreadingitforabout6monthsandthenstartedtocreepbackintoit.
Thereweren'tverymanypeopleleftintheresultingwasteland.Theorig-
inal idea of exchange had been subverted. However, a group of people
undertookarevisionofthenewgroup,andinfactproposed5newgroups
to replace the old one (USA, International, Politics, Girl Scouts, Misc).
Thechartersforeachwerehammeredoutinopendiscussion,alterations
were made and re-argued and eventually voted on. Now, the group is
larger than before and discussions are civil, and open exchanges.
B.
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Just so I'm clear, B., do you mean “by consensus” when you say that the
new group arrangements were “hammered out in open discussion?”, or
do you mean a few people (or one person) listened to the group's
thoughts and then said “this is what we're going to do?” (And thanks for
sharing that experience.)
T
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Just so I'm clear, B., do you mean “by consensus” when you say that the
new group arrangements
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