10 years ago this month a terrible war broke out on this newsgroup
called the "Bill Cheek War". Several threads were flying across this
newsgroup with the main thread called "Bill Cheeks is an asshole" which
broke newsgroup records for the longest lasting thread ever (about 3
months). This was a serious war that lasted roughly 2 years, with the
primary problems being the first several months.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...d5b94a673af4e5

The war on this newsgroup became so massive that many people thought it
would cause the demise or collapse of the newsgroup. Several people
called for the newsgroup to be disbanded while others suggested it be
moderated. Many people simply left the newsgroup. Several people had
their identities stolen and/or were the victims of email-bombs.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...48 4162d50b63

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...6 be2db3dcf30

The war was caused by a person who refused to compromise (which he
called (ZERO tolorance) and caused many people to respond in attempt to
salvage the integrity and fairness of this newsgroup. The person and
his supporting group for him was called "Cheek-A-Likes" or "CAL's".
Due to the threats and retaliatory actions that were dispensed to those
to did not behave in a way that the CAL's deemed acceptable, a handful
of key people stood up for the decency of this newsgroup.

Had it not been for the brave people who stood up to defend the
integrity and freedom of this newsgroup, it is very possible that this
group would not be functional today. Thank you to those veterans who
stood up for this newsgroup.