mitchell@community-chest.uucp (George Mitchell) (11/09/89)
In article <4957@freja.diku.dk> stodol@freja.diku.dk (David Stodolsky) wrote:
`Assumption 3: Interest group creation rate ought to be maximized.
^^^^^^^^^^
`Assumption 4: Newsgroup creation ought to be maximized.
^^^^^^^^^^
This posting does not address the issue of how the participation in one
newgroup with two related topics would compare with the participation in
two newsgroups with the same topics isolated. I think that in at least
some instances, creating a new group could reduce total participation
(summation of messages x readers).
--
/s/ George vmail: 703/883-6029
email: mitchell@community-chest.mitre.org [alt: gmitchel@mitre.arpa]
snail: GB Mitchell, MITRE, MS Z676, 7525 Colshire Dr, McLean, VA 22102stodol@freja.diku.dk (David Stodolsky) (11/17/89)
In <78865@linus.UUCP> mitchell@community-chest.UUCP (George Mitchell) said: >In article <4957@freja.diku.dk> stodol@freja.diku.dk (David Stodolsky) wrote: >`Assumption 4: Newsgroup creation ought to be maximized. > [...] >some instances, creating a new group could reduce total participation >(summation of messages x readers). In article <4957@freja.diku.dk> I said: >Assumption 1: Maximum Usenet readership is to the advantage of all users. I am defining participation as the number of users. We must distinguish between number of participants on the net and number of participants in a group. The Theory of Newsgroup Creation concerns number of participants on the net. A theory of participation in a group probably would have to include namespace management questions. And it probably would have to be based on the quality of discussion in a newsgroup, as opposed to costs. Off hand, I would say that as the number of users in a group goes up, the traffic level would best remain constant (or increase slightly), while the quality of messages would hopefully increase. (This requires a certain amount of synchronization. For instance, if you were a leading expert on a question you would respond right away, otherwise you would wait a day or two to see reactions to a post.) -- David S. Stodolsky, PhD Routing: <@uunet.uu.net:stodol@diku.dk> Department of Psychology Internet: <stodol@diku.dk> Copenhagen Univ., Njalsg. 88 Voice + 45 31 58 48 86 DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Fax. + 45 31 54 32 11