Babbling Boys on the Web

Site Map for Women's Resources

How do you deal with them? Well, mostly you ignore them. They thrive on attention. Don't give it to them. But, once in a while, even though have to be reminded that they don't speak for everyone on the Internet.

Jerry, Pat & Osama
Newgroup Takeover Artists   Babes on the Web

One favorite activity of babbling boys is to jump up and down in newsgroups that have nothing to do with them and try to take them over. This has, unfortunately, happened fairly successfully in soc.women. However, when you see it happen in other newsgroups, try to come down on the side of reason:

From - Fri Dec 13 12:00:03 1996
From: Laurie D. T. Mann
Newsgroups: pgh.general,alt.bonehead.BOYG,alt.usenet.kooks,news.admin.censorship
Subject: Re: Rename news group?

>Esther Filderman wrote:
> > Excerpts from pgh.general: 12-Dec-96 by ?????@dhp.com
> > Fred, most all of the "obscene flames" recently have come 
> > about *because*
> > of FOUR "problem people" here in Pittsburgh, and they are:
> > John Bomberger... 
> > Peter Berger...
> > Esther Feldman...
> > Tom Pendergast...

I'm so glad I don't read this person's postings (while
Netscape doesn't have a kill file, it's still pretty easy
to spot the jerks out there).  The idea of seeing
these particular four lumped in as "the troublemakers"
boggles the mind.  And the sexual obsessions of this
poster reminds me of some of the ongoing stupidity in
some of the soc newgroups.

> > Those people are always the ones who start the flame wars, if you
> >  examine the record.

Gee from here it kind of looked like BOYG and BOYB
(and speed bump doesn't even LIVE around here!), but
that might be a Netscapism or something... ;-> 

> > Now the mission is to REMOVE all of these *problem* people from
> > the Pittsburgh newsgroups, if you want no more flame-wars here.
> > KICK THEM out of town, and there will be no more problems.

Gee, back in the olden days (say before this year), pgh.general 
used to be a nice, interesting newsgroup.  And Peter used to
be MUCH more active on it than he's been lately.  At least two
of "these troublemakers" aren't the trouble.

> > Duquesne University is a "Crazy-Christian" University that offered
> > me a FULL SCHOLARSHIP...

> Geez, I hope someone's collecting all these fairy tales he comes up with.

I have two words for you, Esther:

    alternate universe

(See 
http://www.wlo.org/ccwatch/buchananland.html for more evidence
that the Internet is, somehow, getting messages from an
"alternate universe")

> > Kids under 18 are NOT allowed to be in UseNet, dig?

My teenager doesn't even WANT to use the Internet because of
idiots like this.

When you try to respond in a reasoned way or even just mildly sarcastic way, some of these nameless twits will go after you. Make one more plea for sanity then drop it.

From: Laurie D. T. Mann
Newsgroups: alt.god.BOYG,pgh.general,alt.wired,alt.fan.karl-malden.nose,alt.bonehead.BOYG,alt.usenet.kooks,news.admin.censorship
Subject: Re: Rename news group

[[[[raves deleted...]]]]

I got a good laugh from the boy who 
"responded" to my posting on renaming
pgh.general.

Since I've been on the Internet for a long time,
I learned years ago to ignore idiots like him.
It is pointless to attempt to debate with
people who decide to turn the discussion into
raving about sexual preference and the like.
It's got nothing to do with the topic at
hand, and it merely demonstrates how
threatened some folks are.

I know who is on my "shit list" and
it doesn't include Peter or Esther.

---

Some women find the "Babes on the Web" crap so offensive that they don't put any pages of themselves at their Web site. I think this is an overreaction. However, the best way to make it hard for the boys who like this kind of stuff is to routinely rename the photos you keep at your Web site.

You might want to write to this person who appears to be doing a survey on the subject:

Subject:	Re: research on Babes on the Web - please contribute!
Date:	Thu, 28 Nov 1996 09:51:43 -0500
From:	Laurie D. T. Mann
To:	Joya Balfour

Laurie Mann responded:

Joya Balfour wrote:

I'm a graduate student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada currently doing research on the website "Babes on the Web." - it is on this site that I found a link to your page. I'm examining its immense popularity, and the controversy surrounding it.

For those of you not familiar with Babes on the Web **Don't ever give them boys' urlS**, it is a page set up by a **Babbling Boy** that features women's webpages. I would appreciate it so much if you could take just a couple of minutes to answer a these short questions. Thanks - your opinions count!

• Are you aware that Babes on the Web (BotW) features a link to your site, as well as a rating?
  

  I've heard he has in the past, but as I don't pay much attention to babbling boys, I've never read his page.

• If yes, are you aware that **boyx** does *not* rate the content or desing quality of women's websites, only the photo of the woman who designed it?
  

  Yes.

• I know many women listed in BotW say they are proud to have been included. If you are a Babe and proud of it, please tell me why. If not, I'd like to hear why too.
  

  I don't care what babbling boys think.

• **boyx** says he promotes women and their websites. Do you think that by only judging someone's physical features we can effectively promote women webdesigners? (note: I myself am one!)
  

  Only a purely plastic person would think so.

• Along with the many fans BotW has, many people (women especially) find the site sexist and degrading to women. Do you agree? disagree? Why?
  

  I don't like it, and I do routinely change the file name of my photograph.

• Do you have an opinion on Internet censorship, either at the national or local (e.g. Internet Service Provider) level?
  

  I don't condone censorship, but I do think pages like his lower the level of the Web.

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