Newgroup Wars

[USENET]

n. The salvos of dueling 'newgroup' and 'rmgroup' messages sometimes exchanged by persons on opposite sides of a dispute over whether a newsgroup should be created net-wide. These usually settle out within a week or two as it becomes clear whether the group has a natural constituency (usually, it doesn't). At times, especially in the completely anarchic alt hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become a form of comment or humor; e.g., the spinoff of alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork from alt.tv.muppets in early 1990, or any number of specialized abuse groups named after particularly notorious flamers, e.g., alt.weemba.