I'm extremely dissapointed that you would choose to include the Usenet group alt.fan.debbie.gibson in your satirical "20 Newsgroups You Can Actually Visit on the Internet" in your January 10th issue.
By associating the fan following of a fine, respectable upstanding young artist with such groups as "alt.spank.tonya.harding" and "alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die" you have demeaned not only the fans but the artist.
Deborah Gibson is a talented artist that has had success across a broad range of the music business at an extremely early age. She has proven to be a prolific song writer, inspiring performer, and knowledgeable producer in the "pop music" recoring industry. She has worked hard and achieved success on the stage in the Broadway production of Les Miserables and in the London production of Grease.
Given more control over her career (now that she is a music industry "veteran" at 24 years old) she plans to release an Adult Contemporary album early next spring which promises to show a broader range of ability than her earlier releases have allowed her to show.
She has donated concert proceeds and many hours of service to charitable organizations, and to classify her newsgroup following as "a Newsgroup You Can Actually Visit" shows at best a lack of information, given the theme you were attempting adhere to. You seem to think it odd that people would actually want to talk about someone who has been a perfect role model for young women aspiring to succeed in the music industry. You have questioned why people would want to discuss someone who has managed (through hard work and talent) to succeed at an early age and actually continue to grow and expand her range of talents and successful endevours. I am not ashamed to be counted among those who eagerly discuss an artist that produced up-beat, inspirational, motivational music that didn't have to rely on skimpily clad women in music videos or sexual innuendo in lyrics to sell an album.
In short, you can stand behind your lame, media-hatched idea that "there is no bad publicity" all you want, but the simple truth is that your magazine, through ignorance or spite, belittled one of the few "good people" in the entertainment industry, and those who choose to try and follow her career.
A better choice (if you had insisted on having some alt.fan group represented) would have perhaps been alt.fan.amy-fisher. The scandal, weirdness and lack of respect associated with that whole branch of pop-culture would have been better suited for the effect you were trying to create.
It also saddens me that instead of choosing 'real' newsgroups, you chose to select from among the poorly propagated alt.* hierarchy. Many sites do not get these groups, or if they do get them they get but a small fraction of the available groups. I guess I don't have to mention the fact that most of the groups you listed (unlike alt.fan.debbie.gibson) have had no traffic in months (or even exist at all on most sites). Oh, sorry, your intent was to be *funny* not accurate or informative.
There were plenty of rec.* groups you could have chosen that would represent things that most people would consider off-the-wall, but that appeal to small clique of followers. Alt.fan.debbie.gibson would belong in such a list. But it certainly does not belong among the collection of scandalously ridiculous groups you listed.
I hope you choose to exercise better judgement in the future.