Įarly in the first season, Straczynski began to divulge details of upcoming plot threads, though he did so sparingly. Discussion of upcoming projects was a frequent topic throughout, and began as early as July 1993 with information about upcoming comic book adaptations. By the time he began posting to Usenet, the pilot was over and episodes were in production. Straczynski began his postings on GEnie with background information about the setting and history of the major races and station. Īt the time, the word " blog" had not yet been coined, and yet Straczynski's discussion of every episode of the show prior to its airing remains a critical milestone in the history of production-related blogging. Straczynski's involvement on these groups also paved the way for similar online discussion involvement by many artists and celebrities today. Straczynski's involvement with .tv.babylon5 and its successor, .tv.babylon5.moderated, has had great influence on his works, especially Babylon 5. Jay Denebeim, a volunteer moderator for .tv.babylon5.moderated, was profiled in a Wall Street Journal article that covered the travails that beset the Usenet in the late 1990s. Nevertheless, the forum is still a popular discussion ground for Straczynski's fans, with the main selling point being the opportunity to interact with Straczynski. Occasionally, complaints of censorship arise, though these complaints are often from people who were making posts that violated the clearly set rules. Appearance of new threads are dependent on the availability of the moderators, and may sometimes take more than a day to appear. The system is not perfect: posts can be lost and the group can be down to new posts if the moderation computers are being moved or during power outages, etc. Discussion threads on particularly heated subjects (usually politics) are continuously hand moderated to prevent flame wars from occurring, and if they do, the thread can be shut down. Posts to existing threads from experienced contributors are automatically allowed through by computer. Posts from new contributors or new threads go through the moderators for approval first ("hand moderation"). The only things that are not allowed in the group are spam, trolling, story ideas about Babylon 5 or other projects Straczynski may be working on, and flame wars. The group can be looked at as more of a general discussion group. Most discussions at first naturally focused on Babylon 5, and since the show ended, on Straczynski's recent works in comics, film, radio and television. Per the group's charter, no topic is " off topic". Posts can be made through normal Usenet methods (via a newsreader or the World Wide Web through Google Groups), or via e-mail. The group is actively moderated on a volunteer basis by two Babylon 5 fans, and the computer equipment and bandwidth costs are supported by donations from other fans.
#REC AND PLAY NOT SHOWING ON COOL EDIT PRO 2.0 ARCHIVE#
The various independent websites that archive his Usenet posts or the group itself are usually mis-cited in the media as being his official websites. Straczynski continues to post to .tv.babylon5.moderated to this day, engaging in discussions with fans about many subjects in addition to answering questions about his works and using the group to make announcements about new projects. The majority of .tv.babylon5 contributors, as well as Straczynski and other Usenet personalities, flocked to the new group, essentially continuing .tv.babylon5 in a more controlled environment. The resultant Request For Discussion became the most replied to RFD in the history of Usenet at the time (surpassed only by the -power newsgroup vote), and the proposal overwhelmingly passed, creating .tv.babylon5.moderated. Eventually, Straczynski left .tv.babylon5, focusing on the moderated Internet based forums.Ī group of fans then proposed the creation of a moderated version of .tv.babylon5. By the end of 1995, Straczynski was also being ' net-stalked', and had to scrap a script in pre-production because fans were posting story ideas. The more Babylon 5 's ratings increased, and the more attention was drawn to Straczynski's involvement in the group, the more extensive and vitriolic the many flame wars got. Straczynski interacted with Babylon 5 fans on .tv.babylon5 and similar groups on GEnie and CompuServe, however .tv.babylon5 slowly turned into a morass of spam and ' flame wars' (usually perpetrated and carried forward by a rather small group of people). Straczynski had long participated in many online forums since the 1980s, and is widely credited as being the first notable artist and celebrity to interact with fans online, even before the advent of the Internet as it is now known. One of these groups, .tv.babylon5, gained notoriety for the participation of Babylon 5 creator and writer J. In the early 1990s, several newsgroups were created that focused on the sci-fi show Babylon 5.