Help requested...

[GermanSinclair]

Hello longtime B5-Fans,

I am working on an article for a free german fanbased online-SF-magazine ( Corona ).
This article will be about the beginnings of the B5-Fandom - especially on Usenet.
So I would be really glad, if some of you "longtime-fans" could answer the following questions:

1.) Do you know any forum, where other longtime-B5-fans are "hanging around"?

2.) How did you come to the idea to read/write on Usenet?

3.) How and where did you here the first time anything about JMS and/or Babylon 5

4.) How did the Usnet-Useres like that kind of communication/advertising JMS did there? And how did you like it?

5.) When and why did you stop reading/writing on Usenet or are you still there?

6.) Are you visiting jmsnews.com regularly?

7.) Are there other Science-Fiction-TV-show-creators using the same way (or some forums) to communicate?

Thanks for your help...

P.S:: Perhaps someone could "stick" this topic?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

P.S:: Perhaps someone could "stick" this topic?

Where would you like channe to stick it?

Joe

 

[channe]

Sorry, no stickiness for this topic. It can stay and people can respond if they want, but I'm not going to stick it to the top.

 

[Almir]

I don't know if I can help, since I'm not on Usenet, but here is my 2 cents:

1) Yes, on JMSnews.com, Scifi Channel Message board and I know there's a Yahoo Group (I think).
2) Well, you watch the show, look for more info on the net and find people that enjoy the same as you and...write back.
3) After watching the show and tried to look for more info
4) If there is so many people on those many boards, is because we enjoy to communicate to each other.
As for advertising, nobody ever uses this places for that.
5) As you can see, it's obvious.
6) Yes, especially lately.
7) Not that I know.

I don't know if this is what you looking for, but I hope it helps.

Almir

 

[Flounder]

1) The Warner Brothers forum. rastb and rastbm on usenet.

2): How did they create the rastb and rastbm groups, or how did each of us find the groups once they had been created?

The moderated newsgroup started in 1996, the unmoderated newsgroup started in 1994, while JMS posted about Babylon 5 on the GENIE BBS back in 1991.

Personally, I found the newsgroups through mentions in the Lurker's guide, I think. Either that or through DejaNews (now Google Groups).

3) Me personally? Read about B5 in the magazine Amiga Format. They had an article on it because the CGI in the pilot movie was rendered on Amiga computers. Then I was really happy when it came to my local TV station about a year later.

4) I like it. Not quite sure how the usenet community received it, but I suspect that they liked it. You'll always find some people willing to start alt.jms.sucks, though.

5) During my vacation I'm not reading a lot on usenet because I have a metered connection. When I get back home I read every thread but not every post.

6) If I've been away from the newsgroup for a while, I use jmsnews.com to catch up.

7) I think Joss Whedon interacts online, but not as much as JMS, I suspect. Perhaps some people talk to the fans under an asumed name. ColonyEarth is George Lucas, for instance. (probably not)

 

[Jade Jaguar]

There is a scholarly book on the subject, that would be of intrest to you. It is called "Interacting With Babylon 5: fan performances in a media universe," published by the University of Texas Press, Austin Texas, in 2001. It is about the whole B5 online community, from the early days.

 

[LondosHair]

1.) Do you know any forum, where other longtime-B5-fans are "hanging around"?

I believe ISNNews.net still has some fellow "First Ones" hanging about, although I haven't been there recently. And, of course, there's usenet, where probably the largest concentration of us still lurk/post/etc...

2.) How did you come to the idea to read/write on Usenet?

I remember hearing about it at some point shortly after the series began... I think at that time he was still posting on Compuserve, or Genie, or whatever it was... Anyway, I've always been a lurker on usenet, as I don't read it as often as messageboards, and I've only posted to it a couple times.

3.) How and where did you here the first time anything about JMS and/or Babylon 5

Right about the time it came out. I saw the pilot and a few of the first episodes on their first run, but the show ran at midnight on a Friday on CBS here in Ohio, if memory serves. I wasn't always able to catch it.

4.) How did the Usnet-Useres like that kind of communication/advertising JMS did there? And how did you like it?

It was unprecedented. Here you had the creator/producer/writer of the entire series posting REGULARLY, not sporadically, to a usenet forum because he believed that interaction with the fans was crucial to the show's prosperity. That was unheard of. Still is, for the most part...

5.) When and why did you stop reading/writing on Usenet or are you still there?

I don't go to usenet anymore. Well, maybe when I'm really bored, but as a rule, not anymore. As for why, it got to be a bit too much to keep up with, especially after the show was over and rumors were hurtling about like flies over a dead horse. Sorting out the good from the ridiculous was easy, but tedious.

6.) Are you visiting jmsnews.com regularly?

Yep.

7.) Are there other Science-Fiction-TV-show-creators using the same way (or some forums) to communicate?

Not to the degree that JMS was/is... not that I know of, anyway.