lauren (02/28/83)
Well gang, I think we're now looking at one of the strongest arguments for a few "moderated" newsgroups -- I'm referring to the CAR RT SORT problem, of course. C'mon! People don't keep posting "duplicate" replies just for fun. They post them since network latency can result in long gaps between seeing the original question and ever seeing *any* of the responses. It isn't natural for someone reading a newsgroup like net.misc to see a question (that they can answer) and then sit for 48 to 72 hours before answering, just in case someone else has already handled the question. People just reply immediately, unaware that other identical answers are already queued all over the net! Moderation of certain newsgroups could greatly help to even out the situation by reducing the significance of the net latency. The moderator would be responsible for making sure that only one answer, or a representative set of answers, would be globally distributed. It isn't censorship to avoid wasting people's time and computer resources on endless repeats of the same information. --Lauren--
furuta (02/28/83)
Heck, the only reasonable thing for a reader of one of these groups to assume when faced with an easy question like "What does CAR RT SORT" mean is that someone else has already answered it! Personally, I would think it only prudent for readers not to answer questions like that by posting to the net--send a personal reply if you want. Then you can sit back and feel virtuous while reading the thousands of identical replies and similar flames about the identical replies roll by for two or more weeks.
dmmartindale (02/28/83)
Another problem I've seen often with people around here is that in one day I will see a burst of half-a-dozen followups posted by one person to a variety of articles which have come in over the past week and have already been followed up by many others. Obviously, he/she hasn't read news for a week, and isn't waiting 'till they've read everything before posting followups. A moderator can overcome problems due to lack of thinking as well as network latency. But who will ever volunteer to moderate something as voluminous as net.misc?