WorldNet members-forum and topics.hot

As some (if not most, or all) of the loyal readers of my blog may know, I am also a member of AT&T WorldNet (wikipedia article here). They were my first 'real ISP'. When I bought my computer from Gateway, they included a years free membership in AOHell, and I tried that for all of a month (in my opinion of ISP's, AOHell doesn't count). I've stayed with AT&T all these years (even after I switched ISP's to Comcast) because of AT&T usenet server, and more importantly, the internal newsgroups that were exclusive to AT&T. In that news server, there are two newsgroups that are the subject of this post:

1. worldnet.members-forum, and
2. wordnet.topics.hot

(note: these are internal AT&T newsgroups, so it would be pointless for me to link to them, as you would need an AT&T account to access them. Firewalls can be a bitch).

Members-forum (or mf) was originally intended to be a 'water-cooler' type newsgroup, for friendly discussions, trivia postings & what have you. Topics.hot was intended for more 'serious' and controversial discussions (not always political, but a great majority is). Since politics tends to be a very polarizing subject, it is strongly encouraged to keep politically related posts in topics.hot. The problem happens when stuff that belongs in topics.hot gets posted to members-forum. In the past when I've seen this, I just simply posted my reply into the correct newsgroup. Last weekend, I posted to a thread which drew a complaint that it should've gone to the other group, and then somebody else didn't like me replying in another (in my opinion, more appropriate group). I decided to to cancel all my posts to the AT&T news server (I still have usenet access through SuperNews, though), and this weekend, I seriously thought about cancelling my AT&T account.

I have decided to keep my AT&T account. Apparetently, I need Martha's approval before I can leave. Beside's, somebody has to keep Beauregard T. Shagnasty in line.

As to the gentleman who first complained about me posting replies to the other group (calling it talking behind his back), I will respect your wishes and not reply to your posts in other groups. Welcome to my kill-file.

As to the other posters who would post material to the wrong group (usually stuff that should be in topics.hot but is posting it to members-forum), I will not post the reply to the appropriate group. I will report it to abuse instead, and you will risk losing your account.

Note to AT&T: It would behoove you to follow members-forum and topics.hot closely. There are usually only 2-3 people who are the main offenders and TOSing them would to wonders to improve the signal to noise ratio as well as reducing the personal attacks and insults that still occur.