The screw-up at the end is unimportant; but what is important is the lesson in the psychology of online community. Opinion is not always formed by averaging the guesses of the ignorant. In this case, one person -- a 15-year-old, no less -- became the leader of the group by virtue of obvious merit and high interest. Of all the official analysts, she was the only one who obviously took a personal interest in the game and truly wanted to win. She communicated that drive through her writing and analysis; and the community lined up with her and produced a wonderful and complex game.

That's the lesson -- that merit and commitment are recognized and honored by online communities. Rather than the World team being dumbed down to mediocrity, one person catalyzed the entire group to brilliance. I think this chess game was a fascinating and wonderful illustration of the power of true potential of the mass mind enabled by the Internet.

-- Steve Leibel

Mark Gimein doesn't even talk about the key issue: whether it was legitimate for Microsoft to disallow the suicide move, even if there was some evidence of "ballot-stuffing."

Instead, Gimein says, "Setting up an online democracy is a scary thing. The citizens are rarely grateful -- more often than not they tend to rise up and complain." The fact is that the online community is exceedingly grateful every day for the democracy they have. They do get their backs up when it is perceived that their democracy is being tampered with. However, this is the obligation of every citizen in a democratic community, don't you think?

Let's see a good discussion of the pros and cons of Microsoft's actions here.

-- Tom Cmajdalka

Beached whale or bitchin' babe?
BY HELENE STAPINSKI
(10/20/99)

I must agree. My wife is six months pregnant with our second child, and she is still very sexy and very attractive. I remember in my teenage years seeing attractive women who were pregnant and finding them very appealing. To attribute a man's attraction to an obviously pregnant woman to something primordial or Freudian is misguided. Being an attractive, sexy woman doesn't change upon becoming pregnant. Indeed, it may be the fullest manifestation of what it means to be a woman -- and that can be very attractive.

-- Doug McDonnell
Portland, Ore.

Russell, Aaron and me
BY DONNA MINKOWITZ
(10/20/99)

The killing of Matthew Shepard wasn't about love or longing or sweetness. It was the brutal bashing of the life out of another human being for nothing even approaching a good reason. I read the entire article again just in case I missed the hint that this was meant to be taken as a joke. Sad to say, it appears Donna Minkowitz means every word seriously. I find Minkowitz's version of love to be quite chilling. Would she say a rapist was motivated by love? What about the abusive husband who insists he loves his wife even as the violence escalates toward murder? Was this murder motivated by fear? Maybe. Raw power? Perhaps. Arrogance? Quite likely. Hate? Certainly. Love? Give us all a break.

-- Frank Perch
Philadelphia

I can easily follow Donna Minkowitz's theory that Matthew Shepard's killers were both enthralled and enraged by the young gay man. Whether he made the open passes at the two murderers as Minkowitz described is -- as far as I know -- still a matter of speculation. Nonetheless, Minkowitz's arguments tread so closely to the "gay rage" defense that she should voluntarily give up her Queer Card.

Sure, it's possible these two rough-and-tumble guys could have been strangely threatened by the tiny young man because of his flirty friendliness, femininity and openness. But for Minkowitz to make the leap that their response -- to beat him to death and leave him to die -- is understandable (and thereby somehow acceptable) is twisted and wrong.

Her statement "The girls I get involved with always make me want to kill them" should scare the shit out of any of her paramours, past, present or future. For their sake, I hope her girlfriends read this column for the red flag that it is. I'm just glad she'll never fall in love with me.

-- John Burger
Atlanta

There is no evidence that any of the things the author speculated about the night Matthew Shepard was murdered actually happened, and her romantic notion that this violent death was about beauty and desire is a reckless, foolish exercise of undergraduate navel gazing. Her theories about what prompts straight and gay men to intimacy and violence indicate a profound lack of exposure to men of any kind. And what excuse could there possibly be to further victimize Matthew Shepard by describing him with such florid ejaculations as "lips wine dark and soft ... hands flower-like ... slight as a wand." While I'm sure her identification with these depraved murderers is worthy of further investigation, perhaps therapy would be a better forum. And may I suggest that she also spend a little time looking into why her latent heterosexual desires fill her with such rage.

-- Laurence Schwartz
New York

Shepard's killing was a terrible hate crime, and no matter how hard Donna Minkowitz tries to milk some meaning out if it, the two roofers were bashing the fag who bought them drinks at a bar. This is real life, a real person was killed, and a real loss was felt by those who knew and loved Shepard. Minkowitz can save her purple prose for her novels.

-- Ramin Zahed

Against maternity clothes
BY SARAH MADSEN HARDY
(10/20/99)

All maternity bunny outfits should be consigned to the flames! I have no idea why pregnant woman are encouraged by the fashion industry to dress like infants. It's not as if we won't be hip-deep in ruffled frocks and Winnie the Pooh ensembles once our babies arrive. (My inner cynical feminist tells me that it's a conspiracy to marginalize and infantilize pregnant women; it reinforces the traditional idea of the passive, demure, feminine mother ... and consumer. But I digress.)

I too was appalled at the lack of choice in maternity clothes during my two pregnancies. I'm not exactly a stylish hipster, but even I could not abide wearing ruffled jumpers with teddy bears on them. There seemed to be just two choices -- power maternity clothes (way too expensive, but stylish), or teddy bear jumpers and tent tops embroidered with Minnie Mouse (affordable, but tacky). Being tall made the situation worse; most of the reasonable-looking maternity items that I did find were too short in the sleeves and legs. And although all of my pregnancy books endorsed swimming as an excellent way to exercise while pregnant, it was very difficult to find a maternity bathing suit that could actually be used for swimming laps.

I did manage to pull together maternity outfits that expressed my sense of style. I found some simple jean overalls and black stretch overalls at a used maternity-clothing shop (no embroidery, no bunnies, no ruffles). I bought some stretchy tunics (which I can still wear tucked into my pants) and vests (which I also still wear). I wore extra-large men's turtlenecks. I picked up a few items at plus size shops. It took me days to locate a maternity swimsuit that didn't have a drag-inducing ruffled skirt or a design that prohibited freedom of movement; although the one I finally bought had a lurid floral pattern, it was actually simple and functional.

A pregnant woman must improvise to preserve her sense of self -- even if it's in a trivial arena like fashion.

-- Nancy Ott
Pittsburgh

Mr. Blue: Caught looking
BY GARRISON KEILLOR
(10/19/99)

I'm surprised Mr. Blue didn't remind the mother of the 15-year-old that her son is becoming a man and as such is entitled to privacy regarding his sexual practices. If I were 15, there is no way I would "confess" to my mother that I was enjoying adult sites. At 27, I still wouldn't do that. It's a part of my life to which she is not privy and will not be invited.

Perhaps the next time Mr. Blue gets a letter from someone upset at not being invited into someone else's private sexual life, you will remind him or her that until they have proven themselves to be someone who will not scold or pass judgment, they are unlikely to gain that invitation. For many children and adolescents, the best a parent can do is set up an atmosphere of open sharing and dialogue. It's usually too late to do this at 15 if distrust has already become such an issue, but it's never too late to butt out and remember that even children are entitled to their own lives.

-- Anna Basden

Old Bhagwan, new bottles
BY DENNIS MCCAFFERTY
(10/20/99)

In his nasty pretense of a book review, apparently Dennis McCafferty was so busy looking for conspiracies in the author bio that he forgot to read the books. Only a tabloid journalist's mind could continue to be so fixated on the "sex guru" aspect of Osho's reputation (or Bhagwan's reputation, if you insist) -- a label generated way back in the 1960s by a bunch of repressed Indian mahatmas who thought it unseemly to mention sex in public.

As for the truly regrettable salad-bar affair, if McCafferty had done his research he might have discovered that at least one of the perpetrators of that outrage was forgiven by the government and placed in a witness protection program. This gift was in exchange for testimony that did not implicate Osho in any way in this or any of the other insane criminal activities that give so much extra spice to McCafferty's report.

And finally, about the implied "cover-up" of Osho's former identity as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. As early as 1976, Osho explained that he had taken the name "Bhagwan" as a device to get rid of a certain crowd of intellectual Hindus and Gandhians who were hanging around him, who he knew would be offended by his use of this particular honorific. "Sooner or later, when you have grown up and you have understood the point, I will stop calling myself Bhagwan," he said. "But in the beginning it was needed, and it has been of tremendous help."

This piece does indeed appear in the upcoming autobiography, along with lots of other things that I hope will tie up the most ragged "loose connections" in people's understanding of the phenomenon now called Osho. I hope you can find a real book reviewer to look at that one.

-- Sarito Carol Neiman
Editor, Osho International

Sympathy for fools and suckers who would give over their wealth and reason to blathering mystics is entirely misplaced; they deserve all the suffering reality can inflict. The fraud perpetrated was not Bhagwan's, but his self-enslaved followers. Humans who do not want to be free are the rightful prey of intellectual cannibals like the old Bhagwan, and we do ourselves a disservice if we try in any way to interfere. Bhagwanistas past and present have volunteered for a curried lobotomy. I say, let them have it; it's just nature's gentle way of improving the breed.

-- Richard D. Henkus

For your readers who have a nose for a hatchet job, here is another view: At Rajneeshpuram the essential scenario was of a non-white, non-Christian who wore a dress and drove a fleet of fancy foreign cars around a city with a Sanskrit name, where all the residents wore red, danced in the streets and were vegetarians -- right in the middle of redneck cowboy country. The property was bombed, mercenaries were hired to kill Osho, the laws twisted -- you know the game in those parts. The idea was to show the residents of Rajneeshpuram in particular, and the world in general, that the American Constitution will not permit the kind of fundamental changes for which this bleeding earth and its sad occupants so desperately yearn.

Yes, Osho's methods are intended to shock. From his perspective, a somnambulistic humanity is walking over the cliff without realizing it. He has a fairly brief opportunity to toss cold water into the sleepers' faces. So he invents Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, sprays ice-cold water in all directions, and then deconstructs the whole game, leaving a vision called Osho, an opportunity for all to explore their own conscious potential. No master, no guide, no priest, no religion, no God, no dogma, no holy books -- just a street lamp outside the door marked, "Go in."

By the way -- details of the "secret" name change were sent in press releases all over the world and it was covered by Time magazine at the time.

-- George Meredith

For the bad times
BY LAUREN KESSLER
(10/19/99)

So often I have wondered how it is that other women can have all these deep, lasting relationships, while my friendships have been tentative, wary, tenuous and often short-lived. The axiom that women easily develop friendships while men have trouble being intimate was reversed for me, and I despaired of ever finding the secret to turn that around.

Lauren Kessler's article reminded me of all the friendships that have been there only for a particular rough patch in my life, and freed me to celebrate them rather than feeling somehow less than womanly for not keeping them up. I suppose we each make friends in our own way, molded to our own peculiar personalities and circumstances. We often do find ourselves passing the type of friendship we received on to someone else rather than turning it back to the person who gave it.

-- Laura Monteros