vern@zebra.UUCP (Vernon C. Hoxie) (07/06/89)
In article <674@whizz.uucp>, bbh@whizz.uucp (Bud Hovell) writes: > Over the past several months, I've become increasingly aware of the huge > percentage of articles which cross-post between comp.sys.att and unix-pc.*. > When I get into comp.sys.att (second in order in my .newsrc), I find > myself virtually wearing out the 'n' key. (An intuitive guess is that fully > 70% of the comp.sys.att traffic that I see arriving here is cross-posted > stuff from unix-pc.*). > > I know there has been some discussion of this in the past - why has it been > decided to leave the unix-pc group a non-standard group not to be carried > routinely in the standard feed? Who benefits - and how? > Bud: The reason you have to pour over so many unix-pc postings is that these groups are poorly distributed and in order to get to many of us, the posters are kind enough to cross post. In fact, I can't post except through comp.sys.att. I also would like to know why distribution of the unix-pc group is so difficult to come by. I have been trying for the last year to get it here. Assuredly, someone in the Denver area does receive it since 'boulder' is a backbone site. The system administrator at 'scicom' informed me a couple of months ago that he had found a source for it. I know he is trying to help me but there seems to be an aversion of some sort elsewhere to providing full distribution. As yet, I haven't received anything which has not been cross posted. Last week, I sent out a request on 'unix-pc.test' for anyone to respond if they received the message. So far there have been no responses. My guess is that it never got onto the net. The result is that people like you, who have no interest in the unix-pc, but are interested in other discussions on comp.sys.att have to grope through our activities. I don't know why the distribution system falls down when the administrators need only add 'unix-pc,' to the '/usr/lib/news/sys' file. Surely this is not a heavy load when they do forward so many "junk" groups. I have been wondering about suggesting that the group names be changed so that it starts with 'comp.xxxx'. Since this is already an entry in the '/usr/lib/news/sys' file, we could all benefit. Perhaps even some of our European friends could then join in on the discussions. That is, if the full 'comp.' distribution is carried over there. Next time I'll really get on my soap-box. :-) -- Vernon C. Hoxie {ncar,nbires,boulder,isis}!scicom!zebra!vern 3975 W. 29th Ave. voice: 303-477-1780 Denver, Colo., 80212 ( TB+ ) uucp: 303-455-2670
scott@zorch.UU.NET (Scott Hazen Mueller) (07/08/89)
In article <171@zebra.UUCP> vern@zebra.UUCP (Vernon C. Hoxie) writes: >I also would like to know why distribution of the unix-pc group is so >difficult to come by. I have been trying for the last year to get it here. I can't answer this question, but to the best of my knowledge, many/all unix-pc sites are willing to establish connections. I set up two extra connections locally just to provide extra distribution for unix-pc.*. I also mail the contents of most of the unix-pc groups to sites that can not receive the newsgroups, and have been doing this for well over a year. At any rate, I am still willing to provide the groups via email, and am also willing to provide UUCP connections to any site that is either local or is willing to dial in. I have a Trailblazer+ and calculated that for the about 15 days of unix-pc.* in my /usr/spool/news (550K) it would take a little over 11 minutes of phone time to transfer the whole pile. So, for just a few $$ a month, sites anywhere in the country could pick it up; it's even cheaper than UUNET :-) -- Scott Hazen Mueller| scott@zorch.UU.NET (pyramid|tolerant|uunet)!zorch!scott 685 Balfour Drive | (408) 298-6213 |Send mail to fusion-request@zorch.UU.NET San Jose, CA 95111 |No dsclmr, my cmptr|for sci.physics.fusion digests via email
bob@tinman.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield) (07/10/89)
In article <171@zebra.UUCP> vern@zebra.UUCP (Vernon C. Hoxie) writes:
I also would like to know why distribution of the unix-pc group is
so difficult to come by. I have been trying for the last year to
get it here.
You're welcome to a feed of unix-pc if you're willing to call
Columbus, Ohio regularly - 1200, 2400, or TB+. Most other unix-pc
sites are happy to offer feeds as well. It's not that hard to come
by, you just didn't ask widely enough.
I have been wondering about suggesting that the group names be
changed so that it starts with 'comp.xxxx'. Since this is already
an entry in the '/usr/lib/news/sys' file, we could all benefit.
If you want to create new newsgroups in the standard heirarchy, you'll
need to propose them and hold a vote, as usual. I suspect they won't
succeed, since there's already a thriving unix-pc distribution
available to everyone who wants it. Changing distributions just to
achieve wider coverage is generally frowned upon.