Small group responsible for most 'upenn.talk' posts

and Alan Sepinwall The newsgroup "upenn.talk" bills itself as a "forum for discussion of Penn issues." But contrary to its founder's hopes that it would be "an intellectual nexus for the campus," the forum is only used regularly by a very small portion of the University community. School of Social Work administrative assistant Paul Lukasiak alone has written about 15 percent of the approximately 1,250 posts to the newsgroup this month. And more than 50 percent of the total posts have been contributed by only 18 other users. Lukasiak said he posts so frequently to "upenn.talk" in order to express his liberal views, and to respond to the largely conservative majority that utilizes the newsgroup. "I also like the newsgroups because I'm not very articulate in person," he said. "Newsgroups allow me to say what I want to say the way I want to say it." But the newsgroup's founder, Engineering senior Meng Weng Wong, said the quality of the posts has deteriorated since the creation of "upenn.talk" in March 1993. "Naturally, I had higher hopes for it," said Wong, who no longer posts to the group. "In the beginning, we used to have a bit more content with fewer words." College senior Mike Nadel, who has posted 45 messages to "upenn.talk" since October 26, said he also feels that much of the discussion on the newsgroup is lacking in intellectual value. " 'Upenn.talk' is place where a lot of bitter and reclusive people congregate and spout out non-facts," said Nadel, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist. "The reason I post so much is to correct them, but I probably shouldn't be wasting my time." Engineering junior Chris Leonard, who posted 23 times this month, said Nadel's attempts at correction are probably futile. "No one really listens to [their] opponents' arguments and concession is rare," he said. "I don't believe that many people take 'upenn.talk' seriously, and I would feel sorry for anyone who did." Frequent posters to "upenn.talk" have varying opinions about the number of users who read the newsgroup but never post. College junior Jared Danziger, who has posted 27 times this month, estimated that less than 100 people read "upenn.talk." "I can't see people reading this regularly -- these letters tend to get personal," he said. "I think it's about as pertinent to the student body as the UA." But Lukasiak disagreed. "I have the feeling that there are quite a few that check it out occasionally," he said. "But I think a lot of people are afraid to post on '.talk', because people here have very strong opinions and express them rather forcefully at times." Nadel said he thinks frequent posters to "upenn.talk" mistakenly believe that their voices are heard by a large but silent audience. "A lot of people think it's central because it matters in their life," he said.

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