How are we to understand the ways in which the form that transmits a text to its readers and hearers constrains the production of meaning?
Roger Chartier [26]

The behavior of a newsgroup, its activities and practices, are as liberated by the computer and the software running on it as they are constrained by those systems. Describing a newsgroup necessarily requires a description of their discursive practices. To fully describe the culture in alt.good.morning (AGM) requires a description of the genres they employ in their discourse. The complementary nature of poetic, narrative, conversational and expository genres in modern culture is recognized in discourse theory [81]. Genres are the structured "ways of getting things done by means of language in a particular culture" [107]. In this chapter, I describe the discursive practices of AGM. The conversational and narrative genres are shared by all Usenet communities. AGM has developed unique genres which distinguish this community from the rest of Usenet. These expressive aspects of the communicative practices of AGM utilize the computer as an integral part of the interaction. AGM is using computer mediated communication (CMC) in new forms of conviviality.

Messages in a newsgroup serve many purposes. They can be poetic, narrative, expository and pictorial in nature. Because Usenet interaction occurs via the computer, the screen becomes the paper or canvas of the message. On Usenet, you are constrained by the set of ASCII characters and by the width of the screen. There are also practical limits on the size of files transmitted; Netiquette reminds you to warn readers of a long message in the subject line [48]. The first set of practices that I describe are monological discourse, that is, messages with one author. An original post begins as a monologue. It may evolve into an interactive exchange of messages called dialogical discourse. I will describe AGM's use of interactive writing in the last section of this chapter.

Monological discourse is a unidirectional expression that does not depend upon or expect any particular response. Unless the message is a request, most original messages on AGM begin as monologues. Messages of this type include the greetings and well-wishes from which AGM derives its name, stories of special events or mundane happenings, expository writing, poetry, silliness and pictorial messages. Greetings, narrative and expository messages resemble the oral and written forms from which they originate. In AGM, the other genres have taken on new looks and meanings.

Wilfred originated the brick, a uniquely formatted AGM post. Bricks began as messages in which every line had exactly the same length. Bricks are often poetic in nature but are not necessarily constrained to that genre. Several AGMers are known for their bricks. Although Ted does not use bricks as his only posting format, most of his comments are in this form:

There is seldom any followup to Ted's bricks. It is unknown whether he just was being creative or was anguished from the loss of a love. Even though bricks were considered very difficult to compose by many AGMers, at a recent London IRL the challenge was for everyone to compose a brick. Since then, many more bricks have appeared on AGM. Widge had already joined the brickmongers and tends to compose longer bricks:

Wilfred occasionally contributes bricks but has expanded the brick to include messages in the shape of pennants:

The brick remains a popular shape for posts and is the predecessor of many other shaped posts. Widge has become adept at shaping her posts:

Many of these shaped posts are interactive in nature; they are described in the section on dialogical discourse. What is apparent from the brick is that the computer and its monospaced font is an integral component of the post. Without the monospaced font, the brick loses its visual impact and becomes the same as any message.

Pictorial messages are more than just ASCII art. Whereas ASCII art is static pictures rendered with the characters from the keyboard, pictorial messages often include text and utilize the display characteristics of a computer. Although the picture and its message may be viewed satisfactorily as presented here on a sheet of paper, the real impact is experienced only as the images scroll across the computer screen. Neth publishes the birthday list each month including a small ASCII birthday cake next to the list of names and email addresses. Randy sends a more elaborate cake:

        *    .              .      . . . .   .   .  + .           .
   .       .                   .  ..  +  . . .              .
           .  .   .      +   .. .                        .  
              +             .     .     . *.    +  .    +
    .            .       .      .      ..  . .  
      . .         .   .    .    * . . .  .  +  .. +       .
  .        +      .           .   .      +  . ..    . *
               *     .    +       . +  .+. .   *   .       .
      .         .        .     . + .  . .     .      . .
           .     ..    .     . .   . . .  .                  .  
        *           .    . .  +    .  . . +      +  .    *
          .     .  . .  *   . .  *  .  .    .   .  .    .  
            +  . + .  .  .  +. +  .  .
       .  .  .  *   .  *  .   .  .         .*        .     .
            . .  ..  ..   . . .+  ..  * . .   +  .  +
              .   .   .  .       .    .  .     .   .    .
            .  \^/ \^/ \^/ \^/ \^/ \^/ \^/ \^/ \^/    .  
___          . (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) 
:       .      /:\ /:\ /:\ /:\ /:\ /:\ /:\ /:\ /:\ 
:             . i . i . i . i . i . i . i . i . i .  
:            +  H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H  .  
:           .   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H 
:           .   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H 
:               H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H
:               H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H 
:               H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H 
:               H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H   H 
:            /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ 
:            |\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\| 
125          |                                     | 
feet         |       * H * A * P * P * Y *         | 
high         |                                     | 
:            |  * B * I * R * T * H * D * A * Y *  | 
:            (                                     ) 
:            /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ 
:            |\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\| 
:            |  * N * O * V * E * M * B * E * R *  | 
:            |                                     | 
:            |        * B * O * R * N *            | 
:            |                                     | 
:            |     * A * G * M * E * R * S *       | 
:         ___(_____________________________________)___ 
~         \===========================================/

My best wishes to all of our November born AGMER's, and may you have many
more, and I hope your special day is grand!

The candles seem to sparkle as this cake scrolls up your screen. This effect has also been used in combination with poetry:

Subject: Stars in the Snow

.. . . *       .    . .  +    .  . .      +  . .     . . .  *   . .  *  . 
.    . .  . . .      .   .    .   * . . .  .  +  .. + :     .       .
 . .      ..  . .    +      .     .   .      + . ..    . * . .      .   .
. She dreams of stars .  +    .  . .      +  . .     . . .  *   . .  *
 .   . +  . ..   . * .    +  .   . +  . ..    . * .      .        .     .
+ .  . .     . .      .        . . + .  . .     . .     .  . .  *   . .
*  .  .    . .  . . *   . .  *  .      +  . + .  .  .  +. +  . .     .  .  
.  *  Cascading down .  +    .  . .      +  . .     . . .  *   . .  *
 . .  *  . . .   . .  .  .  *   .  *  .   .  .         .*    . +  ..
 *   . . + .  . . +.  *. +  .  . .     .  . .  *   . .  *  .  .    .   .
. .  *   . .  * . + Shimmering above .  . .     . .     .  . .  *   . .
  . + .  .  .  +.   . .     .  . .  *   . .  *  .  .  .    . * .    +
 .   . . .  .  *   . *  .   .  .         .*    . +             .     .
. *. +  . .       . .      .      ..  . . *       .    . .  +    .  . . +
. .     .  . .  *   . . An identical star .  . .     . .     .  . .  *
 *  .  .    .   .  . . .      .   .    .   * . . ..    . * .    +
 .  +  .. + :     . .       .      .      ..  . .    +      . .   .
 . ..    . * . .      . .    .   * . . .  .  +  .. + . +   .   .   .   + 
. ..    To be viewed. * .    +      . .   .   .    . * .    +
   +  . ..   . * .    +  .   .      +  ..    . * .    +
..    . * .      . .     . + .  . .     . . .        .     . + .  . .
. .     .  . .  *   . . *  .  .    . . *    Same time.    . * .    +
   .    . .  +    .  . . +    .    . * .    + .    . * .    +
+  . .     .  . .  *   . . *  .  . .   .  . .  *   . .  *  .      +  . + .
.  .         .*    . +  ..  * . . + .  .  .  +.  Same place.  *   . . *
*. +  .  . .     .  . . .   +  .   .      +   . . .  *  .  .   . . *
    .  . .  *   . .  *  . .    .   . .  .  .  *   .  * .    .  .
.*    . +             . .     . *.    +  . .       .       .      .
..  . . *      Two eyes +  .   .    +  .   .      +.*    . +  ..  * .
 .    . . +    .  . .      +  . . .  . .  *   . .  *  .  .
  .   .  . . . .   .    .   * . . .  .  +  .. + :     .       .       .
  .      ..  . .    +     Feel the cold light.*    . +  ..  * .
 .     .   .      +  . .. . * . .      .   .   .*    . +  ..      * .
.   * . . . .  +  .. + .    +   .   .   .   +  . .. . * .    +      .
.   . +  . ..   . * .    +  .   .      +  . ..    . * . .        .     . +
.  . .     . .      .        .     Lift up your arms  .*    . +  ..  * .
. + .  . .     . . .  . .  *   . . *  .  . .* . +  ..  . . + .   . .* . +
 .    .   . *       .    . .  +    .  . . +     +  . . .  . .  * . .  *  .
 .    .   .  . .  * Peace be with you.   .    .   * . . .  . +  .. + .
  . .  *  .      +  . + .  .  . +. +  . . .  .   .    .   * . . .  . +  .
.  .  +.  *. +  .  . .     .  . .  *   . .  * .  .    . .  . . *   . .  *
 .      +  . + .  .  .  +. +  . .     .  . .To warm your heart   . *   . .
.        .     . + .  . .     . .      .        .     . + .  . .     . . .
. .  *   . .  *  .  .    .   . *       .    . .  +    .  . . +     + . .
  . . .  *   . .  *  .  .    .   .  . .  *   . .  *  .      +  . + .  .  .
 +. + . .     .  . .  *   . .  *  .  .    .   . .  .  .  *   .  * .   .  .

Messages of this type take time and effort but are greatly appreciated on AGM. They are valued currency in the textual economic base of this newsgroup. The titles of these posts are given in the subject line, but there is no indication of the special nature of the post; it comes as a surprise as it scrolls up your screen. The scrolling is an integral component of the message. Without the computer scrolling, these messages lose much of their visual impact.

Another genre in evidence on AGM is the joke. Jokes are shared from multiple sources, the office, the classroom, other newsgroups, radio and television. Some are computer jokes requiring a knowledge of a computer language or operating system. Some are elephant jokes come back from their childhoods. The one I present here is effective because it takes advantage of the size of most home computer screens. Standard jokes are presented in this manner as well, with the punch line on the second screen. Jokes and other types of humor are called silliness on AGM.

Subject: Disgusting post, beware!

Hey, I'm serious!

This post is about a really disgusting subject.  I really recommend
that you do not read it.

REALLY, you don't want to read this....OK.... I'll leave
the rest of this screen blank so you don't have to read what follows.


OK... This is screen 2... This REALLY is your last chance to stop
reading this post before you feel unwell.

I must point out that you have been well and truly warned and
if you press Page Down again, you will read something awful.










OK... This is it!

I have been to London on the train twice this week.  On my return,
when I have blown my nose, the contents of my handkerchief have
been black, rather than the usual pale green.  It's really made
me think how disgustingly dirty big cities are and I wonder if
those who live in them actually appreciate quite how dirty they
are, or if indeed they would expect the contents of their
handkerchiefs to be anything other than black!

YUK YUK YUK!

The brick, the pictorial messages and the silliness, all use the computer to more fully deliver the message. Besides conveying meaning, bricks are visual, depending on monospaced font for their shape. The pictorial messages extend ASCII art to include animation provided by computer scrolling. Jokes are tailored to utilize the standard size of a computer screen for presentation. The computer is more than the delivery tool for the messages; it has been integrated into the communication of AGM.

Dialogical discourse are messages which expect and depend upon responses, often resulting in multi-authored messages. Because AGM is about communication, most messages are some type of dialogue. The interaction may be simple responses similar to "Me, too" posts or hugs and support from the individuals in the community. Rafaeli calls these messages reactive [108]. Other genres using dialogue include conversation and interactive writing.

Usenet is about conversation [114] but not the traditional conversation of FtF interaction. Usenet conversation differs from traditional FtF conversation in several ways, the large number of participants, the different meanings of interruptability and turn-taking [108] and the loss of sender control [124]. Usenet conversation is really the intermingling of your reply within another's posts. With the only cues being the nested angle brackets of the quotation system, the reader has to keep straight who is talking. Thus posts simulate traditional FtF conversation and often read like a play. Turn-taking is not about waiting your turn to contribute; you can jump right in and your response will not overshout another's. Turn-taking is evident in that the text alternates among authors. From the reader's perspective, the single post possesses multiple authors. The author must be willing to relinquish control of the message as it is transformed by responses being intermingled and lines being omitted. The asynchronous nature of Usenet has changed the meaning of conversation.

While AGMers will post stories, well thought out ideas and how-to's, much of the conversation is generated in an immediate response to others' messages. The following example traces the evolution of an AGM conversation. The order of the posts reflects the order in which I received them. It began as a simple one line post:

Subject: Yep

Back by the Lake again.

bdl

"Yep" is not unique in its lack of information about the post. The AGM FAQ suggests that although subject lines should be informative, it is not necessary for them to be. The one line message draws on the common knowledge that bdl has been visiting another AGMer. This post announces his return. Most responses welcomed him home. Joy's response engages him in a conversation:

bdl writes: 
> 
> Back by the Lake again.  
> 
> bdl

So what did the German did to you? :)

Joy

Instead of seeing bdl's response, MarLena whom bdl had been visiting, jumps into the conversation.

Joy wrote:
>bdl writes: 
>> 
>> Back by the Lake again.  

>So what did the German did to you? :)

Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
just in case...]
;ducks

Lena

The sig files for both bdl and Joy have been edited out of the above post. Lena has expanded the conversation to include herself. There are only two levels of nesting, the deepest indicates the original post by bdl, the single bracket is for Joy's playful question. Lena has also added action to the message--aiming a snowball and then ducking.

Marlena writes:
>
> Joy wrote:
>
> >bdl writes:
> >>
> >> Back by the Lake again.
>
> >So what did the German did to you? :)
>
> Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
> just in case...]
>
> ;ducks
>
Joy sits and waits it to snow in Cambridge (should be very soon if we
believe the forcast), so that she can return the snowball back at
Lena...nana

The angle brackets are automatically added to the previous post each time you respond to a post. The next response I received was written before Joy sent the above post. This post splits the original into two conversations, the one between Joy and Lena and one between bdl and Joy.

>>> bdl writes: 
>>> Back by the Lake again.

>>Joy wrote:
>>So what did the German did to you? :)

>Marlena writes:
>Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
>just in case...]
>
>;ducks
>
What did she do?  She wore me out running me all over Berlin :)  Neat
place.

Better duck Miss Happy, she is a good shot.

bdl

Instead of leaving the default order of adding the name of the previous poster at the top of the message, bdl rearranged it, interleaving the names of the poster and their messages. Next Frank joins in the conversation with bdl:

bdl wrote:
>>>>bdl writes:
>>>> Back by the Lake again.

>>>Joy wrote:
>>>So what did the German did to you? :)

>>Marlena writes:
>>Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
>>just in case...]
>>
>>;ducks
>>
>What did she do?  She wore me out running me all over Berlin :)  Neat
>place.

Grin, thinks she's good at that eh? Was great talking to you both (on
COLD) while you where there :)

>Better duck Miss Happy, she is a good shot.

Hmmmm, did I see a duck reference???
;thwaps bdl just in case :)

>bdl

Frank, who likes big cities

Frank is the first to interleave his comments with the previous post. Frank makes use of a running joke, the duck reference, to add humor to his post. The conversation is reenacted with each subsequent post. You cannot fully understand what is occurring by merely deciphering each post; you must have a grasp of who the messages came from and their history with the group as well as the organization of the message. The next post returns to the conversation between Joy and Lena. Although an intervening post from Lena had not been delivered to my site, the coherence of the conversation has been maintained. Joy has quoted the entire conversation, omitting only signatures and the line where Lena ducks.

Marlena writes:
>
> Joy wrote:
>
> >Marlena writes:
> >>
> >> Joy wrote:
> >>
> >> >bdl writes:
> >> >>
> >> >> Back by the Lake again.
> >>
> >> >So what did the German did to you? :)
> >>
> >> Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
> >> just in case...]
> >>
>
> >Joy sits and waits it to snow in Cambridge (should be very soon if we
> >believe the forcast), so that she can return the snowball back at 
> >Lena...nana
>
> Lena sits down and makes herself really comfy and wait for snow in
> Cambridge and Joy so return the snowball.
> In the meantime Lena lobs another snowball over to Cambridge and makes
> it hit Joy's window pane

Waaaahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boo hoo hoo, didn't snow yet in Cambridge!!
Joy gets bored by sitting and waiting it to snow [not that she
likes it when it's cold, but to take her revenge to the beer German Lena]

> Happe Holiday and a nice time in Scotland!!!

Yes that's it, and if you ever receive a BIG snowball on your face, just
think that it came directly from snowy Scotland :-P

Joy...can't wait to throw a snowball into Lena's mouth

Lena takes the back and forth teasing one step further:

Joy wrote:
>Marlena writes:
>>
>> Joy wrote:
>>
>> >Marlena writes:
>> >>
>> >> Joy wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >bdl writes:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Back by the Lake again.
>> >>
>> >> >So what did the German did to you? :)
>> >>
>> >> Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
>> >> just in case...]
>> >>
>>
>> >Joy sits and waits it to snow in Cambridge (should be very soon if we
>> >believe the forcast), so that she can return the snowball back at 
>> >Lena...nana
>>
>> Lena sits down and makes herself really comfy and wait for snow in
>> Cambridge and Joy so return the snowball.
>> In the meantime Lena lobs another snowball over to Cambridge and makes 
>> it hit Joy's window pane

>Waaaahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boo hoo hoo, didn't snow yet in Cambridge!!
>Joy gets bored by sitting and waiting it to snow [not that she
>likes it when it's cold, but to take her revenge to the beer German Lena]

But it snowed in Berlin again last night with more in the forcast for
this night. Lots of ammo for snowball lobbing Lena :-))))

>> Happe Holiday and a nice time in Scotland!!!

>Yes that's it, and if you ever receive a BIG snowball on your face, just
>think that it came directly from snowy Scotland :-P

Lena takes out her shampoo and soap and waits for a long long time for
the snowball from Scotland to arrive in Berlin. By then it will be
warm again and the snow is all goint to melt making a nice shower for
Lena to do her spring cleaning ;-)

>Joy...can't wait to throw a snowball into Lena's mouth

Hey I've cleaned my teeth already today, Joy :-p

MarLena, going down to her mom now and stuff herself with
chocolate gingerbread :-)

The above exchange ended this portion of the conversation. What started with a question to bdl ended in extended teasing between Joy and Lena. The next post ended this thread.

Marlena wrote:
> Frank wrote:
>>bdl wrote:
>>>>>>bdl writes:
>>>>>> Back by the Lake again.
>>>>>Joy wrote:
>>>>>So what did the German did to you? :)
>>>>Marlena writes:
>>>>Errr, ....how do you mean???? [...Lena aiming a snowball at Joy
>>>>just in case...]
>>>What did she do?  She wore me out running me all over Berlin :)  Neat
>>>place.
>>Grin, thinks she's good at that eh? Was great talking to you both (on
>>COLD) while you where there :)

>How do you know Frankie? [;grins] We didn't run that much, did we.
>Nice talking to you too Frank. Have a great time, five more days, eh?

Naaaah, that's true.... Berlin is big though, and if you showed poor
bdl *all* of Berlin... Less then four days for me now btw *big smile*

>Have you got a bathtub for your apartment, you know ducks like to swim
>;-)

*Thwaps* *thwaps* *thwaps* *thwaps* *thwaps* *thwaps* *thwaps*

>;steps quickly aside...

Too late, hehehe

>Marlena, who likes every place where AGMers live

Frank, happy

Again an intervening post from Lena had not been delivered to my site, but the conversational coherence has been maintained by Frank's quoting most of the conversation, omitting all but the last signature and a few of the lines to bdl. Lena maintained her involvement in the conversation with Joy, continuing the references to the mock snowball fight; in the portion with Frank, she switched to duck references. "Conversational involvement is the felicitous result of conversational inference, the ability to infer, globally, what the interaction is about and what one's participation in it is expected to be, as well as, locally, what each utterance means" [139]. Conversation is more than passive understanding [139]. In order to make sense of these posts, you are required to understand the context of situation [107], the paralinguistic system as well as the background of the multiple authors--that bdl has been visiting MarLena, that Joy is going on vacation to Scotland and that Frank and his girlfriend who keeps (virtual?) rubber ducks will soon be moving to a new apartment. These posts not only illustrate the conversational format provided by the newsreader quotation system, but also the shifts in conversation caused by the asynchronous nature of Usenet.

Bricks began as monological posts in which every line had exactly the same length. They expanded to include many different shapes, pennants, circles and triangles. Many of these shaped posts expect responses; others depend upon responses. All the versions of bricks use the computer and its monospaced font as an integral component of the post. Widge will often respond to a brick with a brick of the same form. Lime wrote an unusual shaped brick. By including Lime's post before hers, Widge emphasized that hers is in response to his; it also emphasizes the creativity of both authors. The finished brick was not written cooperatively, that is with give and take between the two authors, but it is a joint work.

Some bricks ask for a followup. Widge wrote this post at the end of a very stress filled time on AGM--Sandel had admitted to fabricating the hate mail and Ray Moore was at his worst with crossposting and flames. Her shaped post was to provide a relief from the recent disturbances:

And several did followup, some with more success than others. Most tried to echo the same theme that Widge had started without retaining the initial shape. The one that did retain the shape took a took a more traditional topic and became the most successful followup finally being incorporated into the Christmas card thread:

Widge added the candles and the trunk:

Marlene added the base:

Lastly, the verse was added to the picture:

From a shaped post used to relieve tension to a Christmas tree complete with candles, trunk and base, AGM created a group message. Collaborative posts such as these contribute to group identity and build community. The tree was written by four women from four countries, Canada, England, Finland and Germany. The shape is traditional for Christmas; the words are special to AGM.

Ted invented the cascading brick. One person begins the brick for anyone else to followup, a single line at a time. The first try at this form was a brick without a theme. The following example traces the evolution of this brick. The order of the posts reflects the order in which I received them. Ted gave the first line:

The first followup I received contained three lines from three different people. Their names preceded their contribution. I have removed their names and replaced them with numerals.

The next followup contained one additional line that used creative spacing to achieve the requisite line length:

The next three posts reflect problems with the rules of the brick and also show the effects of the asynchronous nature of Usenet:

Ted seems to have seen the various additions to the cascade, but his post includes only the last version. He tries to maintain control over the format of the brick although in a very diplomatic manner.

In the next post, Ted again tries to assert editorial control of the brick by attempting to terminate it. He has edited the nonconforming lines, merged the lines which had appeared asynchronously and retained the authorship of each line.

But AGMers were not finished contributing their lines.

The next three posts again reflect the asynchronicity of Usenet. Instead of detracting from the writing process, the different arrival times of these posts complement the process.

Finally the contributions ended. Ted arranged the lines in some semblance of order and posted the complete work.

The cascade brick is interactive performance writing. The first cascade brick was written by AGMers from Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Sweden and the USA. Its form is dependent on monospaced font, its creation and evolution are dependent on the asynchronicity of Usenet, its meaning is dependent on the community that composed it. It took seven days to be written. Cascade bricks continue to be created. Bricks and other shaped posts are a unique feature of AGM.

Pictorial messages are usually monological but the following exchange requires the previous messages to situate them. Again, these are more than ASCII art; they are animated because of the display characteristics of a computer monitor. The picture and its message may be satisfactorily viewed as presented here on a sheet of paper. The real impact is experienced only as the images scroll across your computer screen.

> HiYAAAAAAAAAAAA, 
> 
> WHOW it's ICE SKATING time again here in Holland !!!  Gawd that's a long 
> time ago I did the ice skating thing !! YES YES YES, this weekend it's 
> going to happen, Kees is going to hit the ice, the real thing again, I  
> just can't wait !! 
> Wushhhhhhhhh,
>
> Kees [...reliving old times...] 
> ps : Anyone ever heard of "Hoge Noren" *grin* 
>
I haven't been skating in ages either!

Daniella puts on her ice skates and joins Kees on the ice.
Swishhhhhhhh
             ~
                ~
                  ~
                    ~
                     ~
                     ~
                     ~
                      ~
                       ~
                        ~
                         ~
                          ~
                          ~
                        ~
                      ~
                    ~
                   ~
                   ~
                    ~
                    ~
                   SPLAT!

Ouch, I think I'm a bit out of practice.  Oh well, have fun on the ice
Kees!  And a piece of advice, wear lots of extra layers for padding. :-)

Kees took Daniella's post and added his own version of skating to it.

> I haven't been skating in ages either!
>
> Daniella puts on her ice skates and joins Kees on the ice.

Kees sees Daniella taking off on the ice and tries to impress
Daniella with his ice skating
>
> Swishhhhhhhh                                   Wusshhhhhhhh
>              ~                                  ^
>                 ~                              ^
>                   ~                            ^
>                     ~                           ^   woooohooo
>                      ~                           ^
>                      ~                             ^  zaffff
>                      ~                              ^
>                       ~                  ^  ^      ^
>                        ~               ^       ^  ^
>                         ~              ^ ohoh    ^
>                          ~              ^      ^   ^
>                           ~              ^  ^       ^
>                           ~                          ^ ohoh
>                         ~                          ^
>                       ~                          ^
>                     ~                         ^ ohohohoh
>                    ~                        ^
>                    ~                     ^
>                     ~                ^    ohoooooooo
>                     ~             ^
>                    SPLAT!      ^ Look out,, Look out, Look Ooooouuuut
>                             ^
>                          ^
>                     JUMP!!!!
>                 ^
>                ^ zaff
>              ^
>              ^ zaff
>                ^
>                   ^ zaff
>                  ^
>                 ^
>                   ^ SPLAT!
>
> Ouch, I think I'm a bit out of practice.  Oh well, have fun on the ice
> Kees!  And a piece of advice, wear lots of extra layers for padding. :-) 
>
 Phew !!! that was close, nearly ran into you Daniella !! Gues I have
to practice a bit too....*ROTILH**ROTILH**ROTILH**ROTILH**ROTILH**ROTILH*
*ROTILH**ROTILH**ROTILH**ROTILH*

Not only has Kees joined Daniella on the virtual ice rink, he has changed the intent of her post. The tildes on Daniella's skating may still be interpreted as unsteady arms trying to maintain balance. Her fall is no longer just a case of losing her balance; her fall is caused by Kees's showing off. He also has changed ROTFLH (rolling on the floor laughing hilariously) to ROTILH to move all the action to the ice. The next screen skating more directly involved the computer.

> Kees: Haven't been ice skating in YEARS!  don't even own ice skates 
> anymore...but can I come anyways...maybe rent some?  far be it for a 
> Canadian not to join into such a wonderful winter activity!  
>
Hey Monique, please do join the skating !! Because of the absent
of some real ice overhere (it all melted again :-/), I invite you for a
screen-skating session:

wuuuushhhhhhh,
^
  ^
    ^
       ^
          ^
             ^
                 ^
                      ^
                          ^
                            ^
                          ^
                        ^
                       ^
                      ^
                     ^
=================*SPLAT*===============================================
          Kees@.nl....   Woaaaaah it's hot in this yeti suit.!!!!!
=================*SPLAT*===============================================
                  ^
                ^
             ^
          ^
       ^
    ^
^
*SPLAT*

Whereas the previous screen skating were on virtual ice, this episode is on the computer screen. Kees not only crashes through his sig file, he falls when he skates into the edge of the computer monitor. The skating episode scrolls up your screen just as the others did but this time the computer loses its invisibility and becomes part of the scene. The computer is instrumental in the animation and an integral part of the humor.

Humor, good natured teasing, jokes and general silliness are part of AGM. Inflatable hammers, water pistols, hugs and good food are part of AGM on the screen and IRL. Jokes and silliness are apparent in dialogue as well as monologue. One bit of computer humor came from Wilfred. Widge responded, adding a touch of reality to an otherwise silly post:

>        Doesanyonehaveasparespacebar?   fortunately    my      tab 
>key     still   works   and     so      I      can     use     the
>tab     key     as      the     space   bar    though  the     sentences 
>tend    to      look    rather  odd.

When my Keyboard took an early morning cuppa after one infamous London
irl my space bary wouldn't work either!  
Try using the full stop instead of the tab key - 
it.looks.more.like.a.real.sentence.then. :-)))

Calvinball is another form of humor on AGM. Calvinball is interactive performance writing that is narrative rather than poetic in nature. It is an unending story of epic proportions, a game of keep-away filled with mystery, courage, deceit, revenge and silliness. Calvinball is one of the most popular stories on AGM; one AGMer keeps a Web page dedicated to Calvinball. Calvinball received its name from the cartoon strip "Calvin and Hobbes."

Subject: Good morning dear Calvinball

Daniella writes:
> Anyway, think we all could use a nice group hug!
>
> (((((((((AGMers)))))))))))
>
> Maybe with all this excitement the others won't notice that I snuck off
> with the Calvinball. ;-)
>
> Daniella, posting a real psot for once. :-)

Yes, you heard it right, Daniella KIDNAPPS the Calvinball! She sneaks
off with the Calvinball stuffed in a big paperbag from WinDixi.
She is very anxious that anybody would be suspicious so she fills the 
bag with her other daily shopping to hide the ball.

     30 potatoes
     4 rolls of toilet paper
     one set of radio dinner
     a thick rubber hose
     one gallon of lowfat water
     bag of birdseed
     a garden gnome
     macaroni with cheese without the cheese
     one parking ticket

Daniella then wears the purple sunglasses, and walks around on UT campus
whistling tunelessly, to particularly ensure that she looks very relaxed.
But when she approaches the journalism building, a strange creeping 
feeling starts to well up inside of her. The closer she gets to the 
entrance the worse it gets. Her palms feel moist and she can no longer
breathe comfortably. She tries to walk up to the automatic doors, but it 
is as if an invisible forcefield is pushing her away. Daniella tries not 
to panic but she starts to loose control of time and space. She hears a
voice from behind her:

- hey Dana, what's a matter, is that a hang over I must have missed
  one heck of a party!

The person asking is Tom, a guy from her insanity class, but she can not
focus on his face. She can only hear his voice.

- let me take that

Before Daniella can stop him he has taken the grocery bag from her and 
helped her through the doorway. She now feels better again and tries to 
get the bag back but Tom is speeding down the corridor chatting:
- I hear you got problems with professor Gurkensplitz. Isn't she just
  the weirdest of all. I took her course last year. You should have 
  seen...

Daniella interrupts Tom midsentence and manages to get hold of the bag,

- Thanks Tom, I gotta go, have this paper to write, see you

Daniella quickly turns left and takes the elevator to third floor and the
grad student offices. Again she starts to feel off balance and weary.
She hears some laughter from around a corner but hurries on to her own 
door. They all look the same, but the Donald Duck poster on the door 
tells her she is home. Her forehead is sweaty and she can not stop her 
hands from trembling when she searches for the key in her pocket. She can 
not find the key and just as she is trying to remember where she had it
last, she notices that the door is slightly open.

Daniella takes a nervous peek inside but it's empty. She enters and puts 
the bag on her desk. Daniella suddenly has the impression that something 
is missing! She looks through the heaps of books, banana peels, bras,
baseball cards, bedclothes and other things starting with b, but finds
nothing unusual.

Something tells her though that she had better find a better place for
the ball before the force grid converges even more. She opens the first
drawer and presses one of four secret buttons. A sucking hydraulic sound
can be heard from behind her and one of the bookshelves slowly turns 
sideways opening a passage into what appears to be a Padded_Cell. She 
takes the WinDixi bag, hurries through the passage and hides the whole 
bag inside the syringe cabinet.

The next episode is not as long or as elaborate as Lime's:

From Lime re Daniella and the Calvinball......
> Something tells her though that she had better find a better place for
> the ball before the force grid converges even more. She opens the first
> drawer and presses one of four secret buttons. A sucking hydraulic sound
> can be heard from behind her and one of the bookshelves slowly turns 
> sideways opening a passage into what appears to be a Padded_Cell. She 
> takes the WinDixi bag, hurries through the passage and hides the whole 
> bag inside the syringe cabinet.

Unknown to Daniella and Lime, Widge is lurking behind the stuffing in the
padded cell, busily trying to erase all the messages on the message
board...... Widge uses the the big end of the fire extinguisher to smash
the syringe cabinet open, grabs the bag, snatches what she thinks is the
Calvinball from amongst the shopping and heads for the door. She's
halfway down the passage on the way back to the entrance when it occurs
to her that the 'ball' she's carrying looks and feels more like a bag of
birdseed........aaaaaaaargh!

Widge quickly turns and heads back towards the padded_cell but.....

The padded cell is a part of Joy's running joke about keeping a "shrink clinique" and is therefore a call for her to join the game. Before she can do so, Frank interjects his twist to the story line. Widge wrote:

>Unknown to Daniella and Lime, Widge is lurking behind the stuffing in the
>padded cell, busily trying to erase all the messages on the message
>board...... Widge uses the the big end of the fire extinguisher to smash
>the syringe cabinet open, grabs the bag, snatches what she thinks is the
>Calvinball from amongst the shopping and heads for the door. She's
>halfway down the passage on the way back to the entrance when it occurs
>to her that the 'ball' she's carrying looks and feels more like a bag of
>birdseed........aaaaaaaargh!

>Widge quickly turns and heads back towards the padded_cell but.....

...runs right into Frank. "Hey there, would you please open this little
door of mine?" "I was in here trying to feed the ducks, but the door
fell into it's lock right behind me..."

Widge looks at Frank and laughs, thinking he may not be there by
accident...  What Widge doesn't know however is that she is only looking 
at a holographic image of Frank.  It's sole purpose is to fool Joy and
Daniella into thinking Frank is still in his cell.

Having distracted Widge this way, the real Frank steps in from behind the
yellow curtain, snatches the bag away, and runs quickly into cel #214
where Daniella is still looking for the Corona beers she thought she had
purchased.

Frank knows from Lime she only bought

     30 potatoes
     4 rolls of toilet paper
     one set of radio dinner
     a thick rubber hose
     one gallon of lowfat water
     bag of birdseed
     a garden gnome
     macaroni with cheese without the cheese
     one parking ticket

So he offers to trade the birdseed + three Corona beers for the Calvin
ball. Before Daniella can answer, Frank takes a little peek into the real
WinDixi bag. In it he finds a note, telling him that Lime has no idea
where the calvinball is...

Frank wonders if this is really so, and heads off to igloo city (leaving
Daniella) to ask Lime (aka Tom), why he doesn't know where the Calvin
ball is...

Frank, hoping to arrive there before somebody else does...

And so it goes. There are no rules to the game. Calvinball can appear at any time and on any thread. Even though it splits into multiple threads as more people join the game, there is only one Calvinball; the other threads are treated like decoys whether or not that was their intention. The true Calvinball, which ever thread that may be, always reappears, sometimes weeks later, to begin again. Calvinball benefits from the shifts in plot caused by the asynchronous nature of Usenet. As the various story lines are reconciled, the tale grows; as other story lines are abandoned, the tale is pared to a manageable game. The computer aids in the creativity of the story and the unusual nature of the game.

Usenet discourse is a hybrid of oral and written communication [12, 42]. Usenet is an asynchronous distributed medium; the writers on Usenet are geographically and temporally separated. As in written communication, on Usenet you cannot assume that all the readers will have read the messages to which you respond nor that your response will be delivered in a timely fashion; as in spoken communication, Usenet discourse is contextualized and interactive [11]. AGM has utilized both aspects of Usenet discourse to create a richer communication experience than is possible in either written or spoken communication.

AGM is exploring the expressive aspects of CMC with the brick, pictorial messages and interactive performance writing. Through extended conversations, humor and silliness, AGM creates solidarity and affiliation. Through the interactive performance writing of cascade bricks and Calvinball, AGM has extended the use of CMC to create new forms of conviviality. An essential component of this community is the computer system, both hardware and software. The computer system takes on characteristics of both transparency and visibility. When invisible, the hardware no longer exists as a separate artifact in the activity or the delivery tool but becomes an extension of the person. After learning to use the various software, editor and quotation system, newsreader and email, you are no longer aware of the existence of the software. The computer system is as invisible as a window pane when you are reading posts. The computer becomes visible when you create a brick and shaped posts. The computer becomes visible when you miss posts, when lag time becomes a problem and when the computer is down. In addition, the humor of Kees's screen skating is in his making visible the sig file and the edge of the computer. The computer system cannot be separated from the expressiveness of AGM. The computer system is an essential and necessary component of this community.