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Usenet RevisitedDateline: 21st February, 1999 That's a bit of a misleading title really. It suggests that I am revisiting Usenet after an absence but that's not so, because I've never been away. What it does mean is that this column is revisiting Usenet after almost two years. Back in June of 1997 I asked Is Usenet any use? and came to the sad conclusion that no, it wasn't, not really. Since then I've hung out a lot in alt.fan.british-actors, rec.arts.theatre.misc, and rec.arts.theatre.plays, and recently I've taken to popping in to rec.arts.theatre.musicals. I do a bit of posting in .plays and .misc, and find .british-actors a good place for finding the URL of sites for actors. So has anything changed? British? There was some discussion recently about the possibility of setting up a British theatre newsgroup in either the uk. or the rec.arts.theatre hierarchies but the conclusion was that there wouldn't be sufficient support at the moment and so we would have to be content with the occasional mention in the existing groups. There are, in fact, very few threads relating to British theatre in .misc or .plays, and what is there is mainly announcements and information from a limited number of sources: some individuals, and announcements from people like Darren Daglish of London Theatre Online or from Paul at Albemarle of London. So Usenet theatre groups are, essentially, still very US-centric. The exception - obviously! - is the British Actors group, but even there, although the subject is British, most of the posters tend to be American and and the messages are of the "Anyone know what X is doing at the moment?" variety. Among Usenet denizens you'll even find some who are really xenophobic. A few months back an Italian posted a message in (I think) rec.arts.theatre.misc and, because he had the nerve to post in his native language, someone subjected him to a sarcastic diatribe, the basic message of which was, "If you're not going to write in English, clear off!" As one of the joys of the Internet is its international nature, I posted a message taking the attacker to task and, as the original message was very much on-topic, adding a (very rough!) translation. I'm delighted to say that I received a number of emails in support. The People There have been changes in the kind of people who are using Usenet. I am pleased to say that the Net Fascists are very much in decline. These are the ones who will launch vicious attacks, usually in the group but occasionally by email, on anyone who has the temerity to post something which is even slightly off-topic. I am 100% in agreement that anyone who persistently posts totally off-topic messages should be told in no uncertain terms that they are not welcome ("How to earn a million dollars in five minutes" or "Cum and visit..."), but if someone posts a message on .plays that would be more relevant to .stagecraft, that does not merit the kind of slashing attack that used to be launched. Fortunately, as I say, these people are getting fewer and fewer. But intolerance of others' views is becoming a major problem. There is a significant number of regular contributors who
And then there is the intolerance of those who are new to the group. You're always going to get schoolkids asking for help with an assignment and it is perfectly correct to tell them that their teacher really wants them to find the material themselves rather than ask others to write the assignment for them! However there are ways of doing this sort of thing and posting a message saying, "Have you never heard of books?" is very unhelpful. But perhaps that's the teacher in me talking! Of course you do get the silly questions, people who ask for the full script of a new play online so they don't have to pay for it. It is right to give them short shrift by pointing to the laws of copyright, but, again, there are ways of doing this - and sarcasm is the wrong way. (I was once threatened with having my "limey butt" kicked for suggesting that a contributor might adopt a less arrogant attitude and recognise that others had opinions that were equally as valid as his own.) Useful? Interesting? You have to do a lot of wheat/chaff sorting. Much of what appears in all of the groups is advertising of one sort or another, although not spam because it is mostly on-topic: theatre tickets and other theatre merchandise for sale, plays/shows (mainly in the US or Canada), jobs (again, mainly in the US), theatre-related websites. This sort of posting can no doubt be of great value to those in the US, but most of it is irrelevant to the rest of us, but since the majority of those online are in the US, we just have to recognise the fact and accept it. There are some interesting discussions going on currently in .misc about Mamet's Oleanna and about copyright, and this can bring some very useful comments. I would commend the following comment by Craig Popsisil of the Dramatists Play Service to every actor and director: Copyright is about ownership. That's it. The author of the work owns the work. It's their vision. End of story. Actors and directors must face the fact that they are interpretive artists. If someone feels that their imagination is being stiffled by working within the bounds of the law, they are perfectly free to go create their own play. There's also a very heated discussion about feminism and feminists going on, but it has tended to bring out the worst in many of the posters. There's a lot of venom flying around. Have I learned anything which has been useful to my work in theatre as teacher, director or journalist from Usenet? The answer has to be, not a lot. Have I been interested by what I've read? Occasionally. Is it a worthwhile use of my time? Since the postings are being downloaded whilst I am looking at Websites, then I think I have to say yes. If I had to download separately, I would say no. Through Usenet I have met (in the cyber sense) about five people with whom I have been able to establish a mutually beneficial relationship in theatre terms. I have lost count of the number of people about whom I could say that whom I've met through this site. That, I think, says it all! Articles Indices: |
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