ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a highly successful electronic discussion group, or "newsgroup", about American day-time television soap operas-Rec.arts.tv.soaps. R.a.t.s is a group with a distinct folklore, yet it is distributed in the form of electronic messages through the USENET network of groups on the Internet. Traditionalization occurs through a group's communicative practice. Conventionalized markings and groupings of discourse determine how speech is to be interpreted, yet are usually highly efficient and minute in comparison to the discourse as a whole. Participants in r.a.t.s use the initials of each soap opera in the subject lines to subdivide the group internally. Identifying which soap opera one is addressing is the first rule of competent communication. A culture's analysis of what constitutes "skill" and "effectiveness" in its own talk is a privileged entryway into the underlying interests that organize group life. Participants in r.a.t.s use three methods to compliment skilled performances: They respond to them, they thank their senders, and they offer explicit praise.
