rjnoe (08/10/82)
This article inaugurates the new "Star Trek" newsgroup. Response
to my earlier proposal has been unbelievable; of nearly one hundred
replies received in almost three days, only one has been at all negative.
Popular opinion was divided between "net.trek" and "net.startrek" as the
name of this new newsgroup. Those who favored the former usually did so
merely because it was shorter. However, several people had better reasons
for choosing the latter name, the paramount [!] one being that of clarity.
As Dave Curry correctly noted, excessive confusion resulted from abbre-
viating newsgroup names (particularly net.jokes.q). Since it is only
four letters longer than "net.trek", I think that this argument alone
is sufficient justification for choosing "net.startrek". For the same
reason, "net.st" was unthinkable. One person suggested separating the
words, as in "net.star.trek" which did not seem to me to be a good idea,
because it would permit the supergroup net.star and subgroups net.star.*,
none of which need be related to Star Trek, thus causing confusion.
Too bad we cannot have spaces in newsgroup names. It was also suggested
that the new newsgroup be made a subgroup of some already existing
newsgroup. However, I can see no such suitable group (neither net.tv
nor net.movies seem right, nor does net.sf-lovers).
I already have ideas for possible general types of articles which
could be posted to this new group. Some I thought of were:
* Trivia quizzes
* Ongoing discussion of ST I and II movies
* News of future ST productions
* Fan club information
* Discussion of ST TV episodes
* General discussion of ST (e.g. philosophy, technology)
* Announcements of new ST paraphernalia (books, posters, etc.)
* Reviews and impressions of ST paraphernalia
* News of future ST fan activities (conventions, especially)
* Reports from past ST fan activities
I'm sure there are many others, and I welcome them. I urge you to post
news to this new newsgroup whenever you have something to contribute or a
really bothersome question you need answered. I have several specific
ideas I intend to implement in the near future in separate articles.
I would like to know how far this article reaches, to see if the new
newsgroup will be forwarded to the whole net. Particularly, I'm
interested in whether or not it makes it to and through the major
nodes listed below in my path - the machine names enclosed within
braces (curly brackets: {}). If you are directly connected or very
closely connected to one of these machines, please mail me a note
advising me of the fact that this article got through.
Live long and prosper,
Roger Noe
. . . !{ihnss,ihps3,harpo,ucbvax,houxi,duke,eagle}!ihuxl!rjnoe
Note: I am more certain of mail delivery through the nodes listed
at the beginning of the {} group than those at the end.