Q: How many usenet posters does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 1,343
1 to change the light bulb and to post to the group that the
light bulb has been changed;
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently;
7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs;
27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs;
53 to flame the spell checkers;
41 to correct spelling/grammar flames;
6 to argue over whether it’s “lightbulb” or “light bulb”;
another 6 to condemn those 6 as anal-retentive;
156 to write to the isp administrator about the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this usenet group;
109 to post that this usenet group is not about light bulbs and to please take this email exchange to litebulb-l;
203 to demand that cross posting to grammar-l, spelling-l and illuminati-l about changing light bulbs be stopped;
111 to defend the posting to group saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this group;
306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty;
27 to post URL’s where one can see examples of different light bulbs;
14 to post that the URL’s were posted incorrectly and the post the corrected URL’s;
3 to post about links they found from the URL’s that are relevant to the group which makes light bulbs relevant;
33 to link all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and footers and then add “Me too”;
12 to post to the group that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy;
19 to quote the “Me too’s” to say “Me three”;
4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ;
44 to ask what is “FAQ”;
4 to say “didn’t we go through this already a short time ago on Usenet?”
143 to ask “what’s Usenet?”
