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Rowing
in Cyberspace
With a computer and modem, you can boldly row where no one has rowed before but beware of "flames" and "wibble"! By Edward Hewitt In the information age, virtually every human endeavor has its electronic sibling, from crime to dating to, yes, even rowing. Rowing has staked out its territory on the Infobahn, and, although the water is not always perfect, it's becoming many rowers' favorite post-practice haunt. |
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On March 1, 1993, the newsgroup rec.sport.rowing sent its first messages across the internet. The newsgroup is part of Usenet, a loose confab of computers worldwide that hosts freeform discussions on just about any subject imaginable. The newsgroups number more than 10,000, with "recreation" discussion groups from rec.bicycles to rec.motorcycles.harley and rec.skydiving, and "alternative" groups from alt.backrubs to alt.food.mcdonalds.ketchup. Dan Richman, then a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, had spent the previous several months working to establish the newsgroup. He drafted a charter, sent out notices soliciting votes, logged the names and email addresses of all voters, and submitted his results to the Usenet panel that grants approval for new groups. |