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*                                                            *
*                         CYBERSPACE                         *
*         A biweekly column on net culture appearing         *
*                in the Toronto Sunday Sun                   *
*                                                            *
* Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer                                  *
* Free for online distribution                               *
* All Rights Reserved                                        *
* Direct comments and questions to:                          *
*   <kamamer@yahoo.com>                                      *
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"Your concept of celebrity was just boomer handed to you 
anyways..."
Courtney Love in a 1994 net.news posting

This is my main gripe about the web: most home pages are 
unidirectional. Sure, pages usually provide an email link to 
the author but few web meisters provide anything like the open 
dialog found on net.news.

It doesn't have to be that way. A nifty place called Matt's 
Script Archive (www.worldwidemart.com/scripts) has free 
software that lets you embed a threaded message board in a web 
page. You'll need some technical savvy to set it up but you 
should be able to manage if you've ever edited a CONFIG.SYS 
file.

One of the better implementations of a web board is the View 
Askew board (www.viewaskew.com). If you're an indie film buff, 
you'll recognize View Askew as Kevin Smith's movie production 
company. Again, if you're an indie film buff you'll recognize 
Kevin Smith as the writer/director who made the outrageously 
funny, outrageously low-budgeted /Clerks/ and /Chasing Amy/ as 
well as the much maligned but pretty decent "big-budget" flick 
/Mallrats/.

The conversation found on the View Askew board is not 
particularly deep. Smith's films are loud, crude, and set in 
New Jersey. Some of his audience follow suit online. Smith is 
no troglodyte, however. Underneath the gross-out jokes and the 
comic book references, Smith piles on telling satire and a 
spoonful of advice: love is what really matters. I'm not far 
enough into my thirties to disagree with him.

What sets the View Askew board apart is Smith and key members 
of his team readily interact with the board's comic fan boys, 
indie film aficionados, and those merely curious about the life 
of a former counter jockey who managed to turn himself into an 
award-winning film maker through a combination of good work and 
good luck.

Smith, whose forte is dialog, is surprisingly spare with his 
online words but tries to follow up many threads. His minions, 
the people Smith readily acknowledges are the secret of his 
success, are quick to answer questions in more detail. Most 
users seem satisfied that Smith and company at least take time 
to chat. Hey, just 'cause you've met Alyssa Milano and 
Tarantino sort of likes your films doesn't mean you can forget 
the movie go'ers!

While it would be nice if more celebs followed Smith's lead, 
the net's flat structure creates some difficulties for those 
with a wider audience. Paul McCartney, in a recent net outing, 
had something like a million messages directed his way.

Ranters are another impediment. The net seems to follow the 
Gordon Gekko rule: if it's wreckable someone will wreck it. 
/Babylon 5/'s creator J. Michael Straczynski used to answer 
questions on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 until flamers drove him 
away. Back in '94, Courtney Love posted rambling messages to 
alt.fan.courtney-love. Her cryptic posts (see 
www.kkc.net/eyenet/1994/courtney.txt) delighted most but 
ranters moved in for the kill, accusing her of murdering Kurt 
Cobain. She beat a hasty retreat, giving what amounted to the 
virtual finger: "God sometimes you kids make the Boomers look 
f---ing hip."