Why are newsgroups working?

On se demande souvent à quoi servent les groupes de discussion sur l'internet. Voilà la réponse.

Q: How many list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 1,331:
1 to change the light bulb and to post to the list 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
156 to write to the list administrator complaining about
the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this
mail list.
41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.
109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please
take this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb
203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling
and alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped.
111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we all
use light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant
to this mail list.
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 URLs where one can see examples of different
light bulbs
14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to
post corrected URLs.
3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are
relevant to this list which makes light bulbs relevant to
this list.
33 to summarize all posts to date, then quote them including
all headers and footers, and then add "Me Too."
12 to post to the list 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.
1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.
47 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was
meant for, leave it here.
143 votes for alt.lite.bulb.

J'ai trouvé cela dans le cours sur les Online Communities que donnait Amy Bruckman en 2002 au Georgia Institute of Technology, et il a été repris sur de nombreux autres sites.