msb@lsuc.UUCP (01/12/85)
Since there doesn't seem to be anyone particularly responsible for
keeping track of groups in the Canada distribution, I thought I'd
send this out. Following is the list of groups that appear to exist
under "can" at the moment, and my definitions for them.
can.general Articles of general interest to all Canadian sites
can.ai * Artificial intelligence discussions.
can.ai.cscsi * I have no idea what this is
can.followup * Followups to articles in "can" newsgroups
can.jobs Job announcements, requests, etc.
can.map * Canadian net maps
can.politics Canadian politics
I think that the 4 groups marked * should be considered as candidates
for elimination. In the case of can.ai there is a corresponding "net" group,
and the subject is such that a reader isn't likely to want to segregate
incoming articles that are from "can" and that are from "net". If you
want to restrict distribution of an outgoing article, Distribution: works now.
Can.ai.cscsi and can.map don't seem to have any traffic (actually I don't
think can.ai does either); and can.map also seems to be unnecessary with
the new mod.map groups. Finally, can.followup also has very little traffic
and doesn't seem necessary in the first place.
So let's dump these 4 groups.
MAIL responses to {utzoo,utcs,utcsrgv,dciem,nrcaero}!lsuc!msb.gh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst) (01/12/85)
> Since there doesn't seem to be anyone particularly responsible for > keeping track of groups in the Canada distribution, I thought I'd > send this out. Following is the list of groups that appear to exist > under "can" at the moment, and my definitions for them. > > can.ai * Artificial intelligence discussions. > can.ai.cscsi * I have no idea what this is can.ai admittedly doesn't have much traffic, but it is there for discussions of A.I. in Canada, and is only likely to grow as A.I. takes off in Canada. CSCSI is the Canadian A.I. society -- hence can.ai.cscsi. These groups should be kept for the time being. -- \\\\ Graeme Hirst University of Toronto Computer Science Department //// utcsrgv!utai!gh / gh.toronto@csnet-relay / 416-978-8747
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (01/13/85)
> can.ai admittedly doesn't have much traffic, but it is there for discussions > of A.I. in Canada, and is only likely to grow as A.I. takes off in Canada. > CSCSI is the Canadian A.I. society -- hence can.ai.cscsi. These groups > should be kept for the time being. Alternatively, they could always be re-created if traffic develops. By any realistic standard, these groups are dead. The criterion for a group preferably should not be that it "deserves to exist", but that it is genuinely useful. Barring the possibility that traffic in these groups is seasonal -- an idea I see no justification for -- then I would say that can.ai and can.ai.cscsi are of no use to anyone right now. They conform perfectly to the well-known "flash-in-the-pan newsgroup" pattern: everyone agrees it's a great idea, but after a brief startup period, nobody ever submits anything to them. Regardless of how many people think they are a great idea, nobody is interested enough to submit articles. So what good are they? If you disagree with me, don't flame at me: start some activity in can.ai and can.ai.cscsi! -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
msb@lsuc.UUCP (01/24/85)
The responses appear to have stopped coming in regarding my proposal to
remove four groups in the can distribution. I will post further information
to each of the groups individually, but here is a short summary.
There is no support for can.map or can.followup. This is not surprising.
The clock is ticking -- they will probably die after one more week.
There is some degree of enthusiasm for retaining can.ai and can.ai.cscsi,
but can.ai.cscsi still has had no traffic separate from can.ai. I am proposing
that can.ai be given a breathing spell, but somebody will have to justify
can.ai.cscsi as a separate group. The creator of these two groups originally
agreed with me that they should be deleted, until other users were heard from.
Mark Brader -- {utzoo,utcs,utcsrgv,dciem,nrcaero}!lsuc!msb.