AGM is unique among the newsgroups because to AGMers it is more than just a group of electronic messages. Many AGMers consider AGM to be a philosophy of life, it's values and ideals upholded by people who consider themselves AGMers. To AGMers, AGM means love and friendship, kindness and warmth. People who try to support each other, be happy for each other, and basically embrace the good in life.

Brenda told me that "AGM was formed to come to a place and just be silly. There was such joy in the first posts I read that I HAD to become a member. I think after years of getting to know each other AGM has become kind of a family." (Personal communication via E-mail)

Brenda's description of AGM is similar to Pete's:
"...It means people can be silly, and just have fun. This is a really big part of AGM, realising all the justification to have fun is around you, in your friends, and everyone, by reading AGM, and liking to do so, will respect and enjoy that. I prefer to think a lot and write some of those musings to my friends, others prefer poetry. Some enjoy posting humour or saying good morning. All of that is what its about, simply friendliness, hoping that the world can be better, more indeed like AGM." (Personal communication via E-mail)

Phil Plasma describes AGM as "...an oasis in the flood of unkindness which makes up Usenet, we are a break from the chronic dispair that follows Flamers wherever they go." (Personal communication via E-mail) This "oasis" is important to many posters. Many of them said that the fact that AGMers didn't flame each other was what first attracted them to the newsgroup.

Pete is one of those who sees AGM as being a unique kind of ideal:
"AGM to me, is how i wish i were, how i strive to be, and how i strive for the world to be. Its often attacked, often critised, its too sweet, its too meaningless, but no! The single most important thing in life is how an individual person treats other people. Excel at that and maybe it'll all be just a little better. Who knows, maybe there is hope after all:)" (Personal communication via E-mail) AGM is very important to Pete, and in AGMers he has found many people who share his ideas and ideals.

Cyril is another who uses AGM to create his own view of the world. "My faith in the younger generation has largely been restored by learning that there are so many out there who have their hearts in the right place, who can sympathize with another's pain, who can speak so frankly about their own lives. For all we know, (we who haven't been lucky enough to attend face-to-face gatherings), the group may well be the only place where some of our cyberfriends can talk about the pleasures and sufferings of their lives. For that alone AGM deserves a place in the literature of compassion and brother/sisterhood." (Personal communication via E-mail)

The "AGM feeling" is in a large part due to the anti-flaming rule. Pete describes finding AGm, and realizing the importance of this rule:
"I found it in early 1995 when i hardly knew what the internet was. I hung out in some other groups, and was mildy amused by some of the flaming of people that was done. I started to read AGM, and it slowly came to me, that this was what I had been searching for. 3 rules, thats all, of those, only one means anything. No flames. And why not, shouldn't real life be that way, say what you have to say always, but do so with an eye on who it is, with your mind focussed that there is another individual involved. Unconditional caring. Now thats heavy, but that understanding, that people are not going to react, or flame, but simply care, leads to a trememdous ability to express yourself in whatever way you choose.(Personal communication via E-mail)

Fred told me similar things:
"I think what attracts us to AGM, is that it is different to other newsgroups. To me it feels like something I would like to call the virtual distance. What I mean with that, is that when I read AGM I feel much closer to the persons behind the posts, _also_ the persons I've never met before. It is like we are all sitting down a the same table, coming and going quite randomly, but never very far away. In other newsgroups it is often more like screaming over a lake. Flaming might be aceptable when you're on a lake distance, but at the same table it would not work. What attracted me in the beginning was the playful sillyness, but even more the absence of flames compared to other groups I was reading. [Evidence 1] I think it is also due to our anti flame rule that we have been able to attract such a wide range of posters, in age, sex and backgrounds." (Personal communication via E-mail).

Chris43 shares similar views: "The whole episode has highlighted for me the very human frailties which we have. While posters to AGM reflect the spirit of AGM (Tollerance, Caring, Love, Friendship etc) we all act and respond in a similar manner. When threatened, however, it is hard to maintain those principals." (Personal communication via E-mail). The anti-flame rule is more than just part of the FAQ - it is the only rule that is crucial to AGM in that it keeps the newsgroup a friendly and warm "place" to visit.

Phil poetically described AGM as resembling seafood: "AGM is shaped like a fish - it has eyes on both sides of its head to be better able to care for people both when they are having good times, and when they are having bad; it has gills which filters in the good postings, and filters out the flames (by the act of AGM'ers ignoring flame posts); and AGM has a dorsal fin which allows the group to steer itself along the path for which AGM is destined, a destiny which I believe to be simply to provide a source of warmth, peace, humour and love to those who have a need for it, and to provide those who have some a place to give it. Flaming is considered (and _is_) bad because it opposes quite dramatically those ideals of warmth, peace, humour and love..." (Personal E-mail communication). In these words Phil summarizes what others have said . The unique atmosphere of AGM is protected by the anti-flame rule, and this one rule is what allows AGM to be a gathering place for a group of friends, created via AGM.