| newbie
= N =
newline
newgroup wars /n[y]oo'groop worz/ n.
[Usenet] 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, or (even more
frequently) whether an obsolete one should be removed. 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 group alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork which originated
as a birthday joke for a Muppets fan, or any number of specialized
abuse groups named after particularly notorious flamers, e.g.,
alt.weemba.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.
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