discussions were held on text-only platforms. According to Turner, the newsgroup was among the most trafficked newsgroups of the early 1990s. The comments of alt.tv.simpsons have been quoted or cited in the writings of mass media commentators. This has led to situations in which relations between writers and viewers have become strained. In 1994, Simpsons creator Matt Groening acknowledged he and the other showrunners have been reading the newsgroup and in frustration said, "Sometimes I feel like knocking their electronic noggins together". Showrunner Bill Oakley used to respond to select Simpsons fans through e-mail in a friendly manner, but by 1996 claimed "[t]here are people who take it seriously to the point of absurdity". The writers sometimes make jokes at the newsgroup's expense. Within the series, the character Comic Book Guy is often used to represent a stereotypical inhabitant of alt.tv.simpsons. The first such instance occurred in the seventh season episode "Radioactive Man", in which Comic Book Guy is logging on to his favorite newsgroup alt.nerd.obsessive. Comic Book Guy's oft-repeated catchphrase, "Worst episode ever", first appeared on alt.tv.simpsons in an episode review and writer David S. Cohen decided to use this fan response to lampoon the passion and the fickleness of the fans. In the chapter "Who Wants Candy" in the book Leaving Springfield, Robert Sloane finds alt.tv.simpsons an example of an "active audience ... who struggle to make their own meaning out of the show". He mentions that in this context, the fans nitpick the show to an extreme and allow no room for error, where the writers believe that nitpicking leads to an under appreciation of the show's qualities. Turner writes in the book Planet Simpson that The Simpsons appeared tailor-made for a newsgroup in the early 1990s because it includes minor details that reward attentive viewing and can be easily scrutinized. The episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" deals with the viewer backlash and obsession with internal consistency. When the character Comic Book Guy saw that the television show The Itchy & Scratchy Show added a new character, called Poochie, he immediately goes on the internet and writes "Worst episode ever" on a message board; a commentary on how the active audience nit picks the episode. The writers respond by using the voice of Bart: In 2011, the producers let the users of the Internet vote over what direction The Simpsons should take. In the