Sorry, time constraints led to my piecemeal provision of FACTS wrt the
multiplicity of usenet forums with topics related to depression.
The very first three forums whose topic was related to depression that
were propagated on usenet are forums that were not created on usenet,
but, created by users of ISP's like AOL and netcom.
The name and description of the very first three forums with depression
related topics propagated via usenet are as follows:
1. Depression and mood disorders.
2. Extremely serious depression problems
3. Depression that comes and goes.
The computer file names of the very first three forums with topics
related to depression globally propagated via usenet are as follows:
Depression and Mood Disorders alt.support.depression
Extremely Serious Depression Problems alt.support.depression.manic
Depression that comes and goes alt.support.depression.seasonal.
Within two years of it's creation, alt.support.depression was overwhelmed
by articles.
Alt.support.depression was being overwhelmed by articles in spite of it
being located in the poorly propagated alt heirarchy, which many
newservers refused to carry or only carried upon the request of a sizable
number of customers.
So, an RFD dated July 10, 1995, 1996 was drawn up, voted upon and
eventually passed creating additional depression related forums in the
Soc.support heirarchy as follows:
http://psychcentral.com/ssdrfd1.htm
Computer File Name Formal Name/Description
soc.support.depression.crisis Personal crisis situations.
soc.support.depression.family Coping with depressed people.
soc.support.depression.manic Bipolar/manic-depression.
soc.support.depression.misc Depression and mood disorders.
soc.support.depression.seasonal Seasonal affective disorder.
soc.support.depression.treatment Treatments of depression.
Below is the computer file name, Formal Name/Description, Rationale and
Charter which created Soc.support.depression.treatment in 1995/1996.
Name: soc.support.depression.treatment (unmoderated)
Description: Treatments of depression.
Rationale: One of the most popular topics in a.s.d., accounting
for approximately 25-30% of all the articles posted.
Since medication and psychotherapy are both important
aspects of most people's treatment for depression,
no distinction is made here between the two. If, in the
future, it becomes apparent that individual newsgroups
for both are warranted, they can be created in
this hierarchy.
Charter: For the discussion of various treatment options
of depression, whether it is psychotherapy,
medication, alternative therapies, home-made
remedies, or some combination of them. Any topic
that offers solutions and options for the treatment
of depression is appropriate here. Discussion of
personal experiences, research, and professional
opinions of the treatment of depression would also
be appropriate. Advocacy on a particular treatment
method is discouraged or should only be done in
a nonjudgmental and supportive style. Out-and-out
debates or arguments on treatment options as well as
commercial postings of any sort are not appropriate
nor allowed in this newsgroup.
Usenet doesn't have a lot of rules or regulations.
AFAIK----usenet only has one rule: One can't create a usenet newsgroup
which already exists.
The name, description, and Charter creating the usenet news
soc.support.depression.treatment in 1995/1996 means it was verboten for
anyone to create a usenet ng whose topic was "Treatment of Depression"
after 1996.
soc.support.depression.treatment is and always has been the ONLY usenet
newsgroup which has ever been chartered as a forum whose topic is
"Treatment of Depression" .
When alt.support.depression.medication was created in 1997, it was NOT
chartered to discuss treatment of depression; antidepressant or
otherwise, per se.
Au contraire...
alt.support.depression.medication Charter explicitly state
alt.support.depression.medication is a newgroup to discuss the various
aspects of anti-depressant drugs in use worldwide."
By 1997 the explosion in the use of antidepressants world wide had made
use of antidepressants highly controversial.
The charter of Soc.support.depression.treatment explicitly prohibited SSDT
from being used as a venue for discussion of the controversy surrounding
the explosion in the use of antidepressants worldwide.
alt.support.depression location within the alt heirarchy (which was billed
as a heirarchy where "anything goes" ) meant that subscribers of ASD would
be saddled with articles regarding the controversy surrounding the
explosive use of antidepressatns use worldwide, IF ASD subscribers didn't
create a ng explicitly chartered to discuss various aspects of
anti-depressant drugs in use worldwide.
Hence...alt.support.depression.medication was created with a CHARTER
stating it was a sub-group to ASD whose purpose was to discuss various
aspects of anti-depressant drugs in use worldwide..
The original subscribers to ASD-med were able to utilize ASD-med for the
purpose it was chartered for approx a year.
Then, some extraordinarily IRRATIONAL posters claiming they had extremely
serious depression problems subscribed to ASD-med and insisted that their
allegedly serious depression problmes entitled them to engage in
aggressive and criminal activities to silence ASD-med posters who posted
articles about the negative aspects of antidepressant drugs in use
worldwide.
Naturally, few, if any, of the highly IRRATIONAL psychiatric
patients who insist their extremely serious depression problems entitled
them to serial stalk all the legitimate ASD-med subscribers are posters
who subscribed to soc.support.derpession.treatment or the usenet ng which
is actually CHARTERED for persons desiring to discuss the Treatments of
Depression.
Because, irrational people never had any genuine interest in discussing
the treatment of depression with antidepresssants or otherwise.
All the irrational people with the "extremely serious depression problems"
have ever been interestedin doing is diverting, derailing, disrupting
and stopping any and all legitimate discussion of the negative aspects of
antidepresstant drugs in use worldwide ----which, is exactly what ASD-med
is chartered to discuss.
"Marcia" is just the most recent of the endless stream of extremely
IRRATIONAL psychiatric patients who insist their having extremely
serious depression problems ENTITLES them to engage in aggressive and
criminal activities to disrupt ASD-med's legitimate subsdriber from
engaging in the discussion ASD-med is chartered for.
