I first attempted to create a John Denver newsgroup in April of 1994. I was just a newbie on the internet and my first attempts got me only flames in alt.config. Nevertheless, I persevered over the months and kept trying to post in alt.config and keep the dream of a John Denver newsgroup up on the 'net. I was told there wasn't enough interest and that John was passe. I was told the idea was stupid and that there weren't any John Denver fans around anymore. However, during all that time I was gathering together John Denver fans in Rocky Mtn High....so I KNEW there were John Denver fans out there but they just weren't a very vocal group.
Then in about November I posted an official "Request for Discussion" for a group to be called "rec.music.john-denver". Although I had carefully copied the document after similar documents in alt.config, I again met with rejections. This time they flamed me for not knowing how to correctly "cross-post" and again my suggestion met with rejection. I formed the opinion that John Denver fans just don't read alt.config and that the people who do read and post there are more interested in flaming than they are in creating newsgroups. So in February of 1995 when a message came along that gave instructions for creating a newsgroup in the alt hierarchy, I just created it without further discussion. I figured that 9 months worth of flames was enough for any newsgroup creator to go through.
Since it's creation in February of 1995, the John Denver newsgroup has always had at least 10 messages anytime I checked it on Sky.net and on AOL there are usually about 50 or 60 messages carried since they keep messages longer. To me that shows that John Denver fans are out there and interested in talking about John. The membership in RMH also zoomed in the same month that the newsgroup was created. Every day I would check into my mailbox and find about 10 new people interested in receiving the monthly email newsletter. The membership doubled in that month.