itkin@luke.UUCP (Steven List) (07/04/85)
I'm very curious (and frustrated) about something. I read all three of the
newsgroups indicated in the Newsgroups: line of this article. I've
noticed some confusing facts: it seems that most people who post to
net.unix also post to net.unix-wizards. Why is this? Why do the
followups always appear in both groups (I realize that this is due to
the Newsgroups: line in the original)? Is mod.unix the appropriate
forum for this stuff?
I get kind of tired of seeing the same articles in both groups.
Apparently readnews/vnews has the smarts not to show you an article if
you've already seen it in another group. I'm using rn - does it have
the same capability (Larry?)?
Does everyone else just take this for granted, or is there some more
confusion out there?
Bewildered.
--
***
* Steven List @ Benetics Corporation, Mt. View, CA
* Just part of the stock at "Uncle Bene's Farm"
* {cdp,greipa,idi,oliveb,sun,tolerant}!bene!luke!steven
***control@ALMSA-1 (William Martin) (07/18/85)
I haven't seen any later follow-ups or comments to Mr. List's posting about posting to both net.unix and net.unix-wizards, or the ARPA equivalents of Info-Unix and Unix-Wizards. However, I, too, have noticed this phenomenon, and thought it was worth some comment/discussion. I base my interpretation of the distinction between the two lists on a description of Info-Unix that was circulated when the ARPA gateway of net.unix first was established. As I recall it, essentially the difference is that net.unix/Info-Unix is for beginners, elementary questions, simple problems, etc. Unix-Wizards, on the other hand, is *only* for people who are experienced in Unix internals and technical details. Because of this, I have always read Info-Unix/net.unix, and never read Unix-Wizards. I am no wizard -- I barely know enough Unix to do what I need to do, and my questions are basic and low-level. Because this distinction has always existed, I have never seen much rationale for cross-posting to both groups. If a question or comment is technically advanced enough to be worthy of Unix-Wizards, it will be incomprehensible to the readership of Info-Unix/net.unix, except for those that read both (either for amusement or to offer aid and advice to those of us who are not as knowledgeable). If, on the other hand, the comment is on the Info-Unix/net.unix level, it is boring and trivial to the real wizards on Unix-Wizards. Concomitant with this distinction, there should be a somewhat different attitude toward participants. In Info-Unix/net.unix, toleration and understanding, and a helpful attitude towards the neophyte, should be the order of the day. On Unix-Wizards, though, all bets are off. This is the "big boys'" playground, and showing ignorance or making mistakes here will subject the hapless participant to flames and abuse. This seems reasonable, considering the clear identification of "wizardry" in the group name. There probably should be an exception made for some topics that *do* deserve cross-posting. What comes to mind immediately are rewarding and worthwhile things like the recent collection and summary of comments on the AT&T 3B hardware. Perhaps others can better define what should be posted to both lists/groups? I don't know if there is a good way to clearly define the dividing line between these groups. One could say something like "device drivers, kernel internals, and other advanced topics" belong in Unix-Wizards, while "Unix history, interpreting ambiguous manual statements, and user-level software issues, etc." belong on Info-Unix/net.unix. However, this is pretty fuzzy, and even I can pick holes in these examples fairly easily. I think it might be more in the nature of a subjective judgement. Comments leading to a good working definition of the two areas would be welcomed. [If anyone wants to post or forward this to Unix-Wizards to enlarge the scope of the discussion, please do. I'm not going to post there; I know my place! :-)] Regards, Will Martin ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA UUCP/Usenet: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin