Doan wrote:

Frequently Asked Questions

3) What is the purpose of a.p.s.?

Alt.parenting.spanking is a discussion group for the topic of corporal
punishment by parents in a legitimate fashion as defined by relevant law.
Any notes relating directly or indirectly to the issue of use of corporal
punishment by parents are on topic on a.p.s.

Doan did not establish aps. The purpose of aps is to discuss the
practice of spanking and other forms of corporal punishment and
alternatives to these practices.


4) What is "spanking?"

The reasonable non-inflammatory definition of spanking is the legitimate and
legal use of corporal (physical) punishment in the furtherance of disciplined
behavior of a child by the parent or legal guardian of said child. The form
and manner of such corporal punishment is widely left to the discretion of
said parent or guardian and is fully within their legal rights and
prerogatives up to the point such actions violate the legal statutes.

Doan did not define the definition of spanking for this ng. Spanking is
the practice of raising one's hand and hitting a child, with or without
an instrument, in the name of discipline.

There are those participants in the newsgroup who seek to use inflammatory and
emotionalistic, hyperbolic, hysterical and misrepresentative terms and
agenda-serving definitions which only cloud the issue and shut down any
reasonable and meaningful discussion on the topic. Such should just be pointed
out as such and then ignored as the intentional attempts at disruption that
they are.

Doan did not create this ng. This ng was created to discuss spanking,
corporal punishment, and alternatives to these parental practices.

6)Is "flaming" permitted on a.p.s.?

In addition to the obvious division between posters who agree with spanking and
posters who are against spanking, there is also a division between posters who
desire a civil discourse and posters who desire a "flame war." In the past
there have been "flamers" at times on both sides of the spanking issue.

This is true.

There
are also those who seem to think they are not flaming when they are, who do
not think they are being offensive when they are and who do not think they are
being uncivil when they are. Their swaggering selfrighteousness and holier-
than-thou arrogance will become readily apparent in short order.

This could apply to someone who consistently misrepresents research in
his favor. This person completely ignores research design, methodology,
and even author interpretation. Whoever could this be?


8) Are discussions about Child Protective Services on topic on a.p.s.?

Absolutely! Since Children's Protective Services, by whatever local name they
go by, deal with issues of child abuse and since several extreme position
posters continue to claim that all spanking is child abuse, even that which
is clearly legal in all fifty states of the union, the discussion of CPS is
entirely on topic, because people should be entirely aware of what exactly
they are doing and causing if they report someone to one of these agencies.

CPS is on topic as long as the subject relates to spanking.

Another newsgroup specifically about CPS is alt.support.child-protective-
services, and posts can be made there as well, but since the world is not as
ultracompartmentalized as some would wish it to be, such posts are also on
topic in a.p.s.

And some of our most avid CPS posters are not accepted by individuals on
the CPS ng. So they keep posting off topic on aps because they are
shunned by the appropriate ng.

Those who object most strenuously to posts in the newsgroup about CPS are those
who tend to advocate or play apologist for those agencies and do not wish the
general public to know the truth about these agencies.

Aps is not about exposing CPS agency errors. That belongs on the CPS
ng. This ng is alt.parenting.spanking. Doan doesn't seem to understand
the difference.


10) Are fictional stories appropriate for a.p.s.?

It is very unlikely that a fictional story of any sort will be appropriate for
a.p.s. or widely appreciated by readers of a.p.s. Alt.parenting.spanking is
devoted to discussion of how spanking impacts the lives of the current
generation of non-fictional children. Unless your fictional story somehow
relates in a clear and direct manner to real-life spankings of real-life
children, it would be best posted elsewhere.

This is also true. However, I haven't seen fictional stories on the ng,
with the exception of trolls.

11) What is a "troll?"

In Usenet parlance, a "troll" is someone who posts notes on a newsgroup
intending to provoke chaos from others while they skip out and leave the
firestorm they created for the regular participants of the newsgroup to deal
with. No one likes a troll, generally speaking.


12) How can I begin posting to a.p.s.?

The best way to read and post to a.p.s. is to use a Usenet "newsreader" devoted
to the purpose. The "rn" newsreader is primitive but servicable. The "tin"
newsreader is recommended. Ask your ISP about accessing Usenet to find out what
is available for someone with your internet account. Also Netscape and Outlook
have newsreader capabilities and are usually available on most PCs.

Alt.parenting.spanking may also be accessed from the world wide web through
any number of newsgroup access sites such as Remarq, Google and others. Some
charge for their services, and others do not.

13. Is "terrorism" an appropriate topic for a.p.s?

Of course, not. Those who continued to post on the topic of terrorism
are spamming the group. They are showing that they have no respect for
the participants of a.p.s!

Your response to Ivan makes me grin, in light of this declaration!

LaVonne

Doan