Private Group? Pumpkin cookies

Usenet is not for the faint of heart or thin of skin.

Get a grip. Everyone is responsible for their own being. If you choose to be nervous, scared, euphoric, or depressed it is your own business. You give too much power to people when you let the words of strangers wreck your life. Frankly, you seem to be a drama queen from you reaction to the quite civilized discussion about mixes. If this upset you so much as to cause you to make multiple posts on the subject I would caution you not to participate in Usenet. That was a quite civilized and benign discussion. If you don't believe me, I can direct you to some threads that are quite brutal. I find your criticism of the comments to be quite hypocritical. How can you come to a newsgroup and criticize the messages that people post, make an entirely off-topic post, make multiple thread on the same message, post messages without any context, and post HTML to a non-binary news group all in the name of not being critical? Pot-Kettle-Black.

I must have missed something! Where were the multiple threads on same issue and messages without content? I'll stipulate the HTML, although I didn't see it; I suppose it was in her signature attachment...

Dave

Half of the message that precipitated this thread also appeared in the turkey thread.

And we're being more than civil over there, considering that it's technically about roasting rather than baking.

True enough. So, first lesson: post in plain text.

< yellow text... blue background... uh uhh >

Mable posted her fears about the newsgroup in the "turkey recipe" thread. Then she started an entirely new thread, repeating the same message. This is the repeat thread. Frankly I don't care, but if you are going to hold people to a standard, then it may as well be a widely accepted standard like Netiquette.

In both instances, there was no text quoted. She just posted her opinion.

Both of the above mentioned messages were posted in the default Webtv style with a graphic background with colored text as indicated in the message header: Content-Type: Multipart/Mixed; Boundary=WebTV-Mail-5594-2282 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhQ+0e+Fj6fdpxwAXNLOk4rIeFb4twIVAIXwYilNyjTnOQsTceBW6md3iDqB Content-Disposition: Inline X-WebTV-Stationery: Standard; Background="

"; TextColor=orange

Yes, and the OP's question was answered in the first response. Then someone complained because no one addressed the question!!

OK I'm truly sorry, I'm new, trying to learn, & LOVE TO BAKE. It looks like your saying I'm supposed to include the pervious post. Sorry about HTML, it is in my sig, turned it off this time. Multiple posts; I added this because it had nothing to do with turkey, but the pumpkin cookie issue was mentioned in the turkey post. What is Usenet? Is it for computers & not webbers? If so why does this group come up on my list? I honestly wasn't trying to criticize, just trying to share a different point of view. What if she was getting started? When she asked for opinions, wasn't she looking for try it & let me know? Some of the replies were much like this one. I didn't make any accusations or call names, Hypocritical, drama queen, I guess if the shoe fits wear it. Don't worry I won't be coming back. Mable

I wrote previous: Hi, I'm new to discuss groups, is this a private group? I stopped in here for the 1st time a few days ago, my 1st impression was scary. The pumpkin cookie/mixes issue was just starting. I love to bake, I do most from scratch. Sometime I use mixes for various reasons. What if this was this person's 1st time to post in a group? What if she is just starting to bake? If it were me I would be scared to post again, anywhere. If I were just starting to bake I might give up, thinking I would never be good enough. I hope she comes back & reads some of the positive comments. I hope she keeps on baking, because it is fun, whether from scratch or mixes. Looks like lots of good ideas in here, would like to see more. Thanks Mable

Vox replied: Get a grip. Everyone is responsible for their own being. If you choose to be nervous, scared, euphoric, or depressed it is your own business. You give too much power to people when you let the words of strangers wreck your life. Frankly, you seem to be a drama queen from you reaction to the quite civilized discussion about mixes. If this upset you so much as to cause you to make multiple posts on the subject I would caution you not to participate in Usenet. That was a quite civilized and benign discussion. If you don't believe me, I can direct you to some threads that are quite brutal. I find your criticism of the comments to be quite hypocritical. How can you come to a newsgroup and criticize the messages that people post, make an entirely off-topic post, make multiple thread on the same message, post messages without any context, and post HTML to a non-binary news group all in the name of not being critical? Pot-Kettle-Black.

No problem. You don't have to be sorry.

It looks

Posting some context helps people understand what you are talking about. It is good to post the relevant part of the post you are replying to and snip the rest. Snipping help prevent messages from getting too big.

Sorry about

Yes, for some reason Webtv has the default set to ON. While it doesn't bother me, some people have news readers that crash due to all the bells and whistles. Eventually some people will just killfile you if you post HTML in a non-binary newsgroup

Multiple posts; I added

Yes, and again it doesn't bother me. It's just that some people do get upset over off-topic messages. I was just saying that if you want to criticize people for things that bother you, then be prepared for others to do the same.

What is Usenet? Is it for

A messaging system that uses a computer network, especially the Internet, to transfer messages organized in thematic groups." Usenet is a very old part of the Internet used originally to communicate news in the academic and scientific world. It is for everyone, including Webtv users. Unfortunately, many Webtv users before you have established a certain reputation.

I

If you go back and read the thread from the beginning with an open mind, I think you will see that is exactly my position. Someone posed a recipe and asked for opinions. I gave mine. I wasn't judgmental or abusive. I simple stated my opinion about using mixes. It was a different point of view from that of the OP. Here is a link to the thread:

What if she was getting started? When she asked for

I'm not a mind reader. When someone asks for opinions then they shouldn't expect everyone to guess exactly what that means. Here is exactly what the OP posted: "This recipe is fantastic. What do you think about it?" I didn't understand that I was suppose to run out and make this recipe so I could reinforce the OP's point of view. In all fairness, I posted a link to a site where people who had made the recipe posted their opinions. What did you do to aid the OP?

Your questions about the OP are unknowable and irrelevant.

Some of the

That's entirely up to you. There are lots of people here with diverse opinions who get in dust-ups on a regular basis. I learn lots of things here and disagree with lots of what is posted. But if you are the controlling type of person who can't tolerate the level of dissent posted in this and the other related threads, then you won't be happy posting to unmoderated Usenet newsgroups.

In closing, I would also point out that it is a violation of Netiquette to top-post. The conventional way to post is to quote the relevant part of the message and then put your reply below it. When top and bottom posting are mixed, it is nearly impossible to follow the conversation. Again, I'm not being the police, I'm just telling you the facts. Of course, if you can do as you wish.

Happy baking!

[posted and emailed]

Oh good grief. Of course you're welcome -- Usenet is a great and wonderful thing, although it requires a thick skin and *lurking* in a group to get a sense of the personalities in it is a *very* good thing before you post -- Besides, coming into a group and criticizing right out of the gate is a sure way to get people riled up (consider how you'd feel if you invited someone you didn't know very well into your home and s/he started criticizing your choice of furniture, art, etc.).

And most of the problem isn't *you*, it's the fact that WebTV turns its customers out into the greater world of Usenet without educating them as to the difference between WebTV's own safe and rather insular groups and Usenet, which is, at times, loosely controlled chaos. Some groups are better than others -- rec.food.baking, for example, has little in the way of trollery (or at least from what I see on my server, news.individual.net); rec.food.cooking, however -- and unfortunately -- is overrun at the moment with quite a bit of nastiness (this is where I can with ringing affirmation say that killfiles are your friend). Other groups have different personalities.

Since you're admittedly not so 'net-savvy, here are a few links to get you started (and don't feel you have to read and absorb everything at once -- it's a *lot* of information):

-- UsenetHelp --comprehensive -- How to quotecorrectly on Usenet (how and why) -- also comprehensiveUnfortunately, the best link to help WebTV customers transition to thewider world of Usenet is no longer valid (if anyone actually saved thetext from I'd love to have acopy of it), but the above should get you started.-jacqui

rec.food.cooking, however -- and

Ain't that the truth!