drforsey@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Forsey) (03/12/86)
In article <54600015@iuvax.UUCP> someone@iuvax.UUCP writes: >This is the best WHATCHAMACALLIT so far for the ST. > >Below are the .acc and .rsc files needed... >-------------------------cut here----------------------------- 325 lines of uuencoded data follow. A Suggestion: ------------- One can easily see how net.sources (and perhaps the net in general) has dropped in quality over the past year or so. (if your site archives net.sources just have a look at all the subject lines, Waterloo just recently culled its archives and the results were not impressive.) This particular newsgroup has been very informative and it would be a shame to see it degrade to the point where it became a forum for posting binaries and follow the pattern of net.micro.mac (which has now become 3 newsgroups, mod.mac.binaries, net.sources.mac, and net.micro.mac). The suggestion is merely this: If you have a binary to distribute, in whatever form, you post your e-mail address (with alternate routes) to net.micro.atari16 to announce its availability. Interested parties can then use mail to request a copy from the author. Personally I would prefer that only source gets posted. Yes not everyone has a developers kit, yes mail fouls up, and yes, source never seems to compile correctly on your particular system/compiler, but it is much more enlightening for the reader to see how someone has done something, and it reduces the net traffic. But consider, how many people who have access to usenet don't also have access to someone with a compiler for the ST (either friends or on a BBS), and how often, as has happened with hack, has one source distribution for a particular machine/compiler proliferated onto several different machines/compilers. Posting binaries distributes programs, posting source distributes knowledge, and knowledge helps to make more programs for everyone! I don't really expect the above appeal to make any difference but... one lives in hope. Dave Forsey Computer Graphics Laboratory University of Waterloo Waterloo Ont. CANADA uucp: {decvax,utzoo,allegra,ihnp4}!watmath!watcgl!drforsey csnet: drforsey@waterloo.csnet
franco@iuvax.UUCP (03/13/86)
I most strongly disagree with the author of the previous note. I think most people are very interested in receiving any useful software that is available. i think there is room for both code and talk on this net. However, if alot of people want source listings stopped then so be it. I am sorry to say that the suggestion of emailing code is unacceptable to me as the cost is too high and the number of people benefitting is too low. franco@indiana.CSNET