hal@ugacs.UUCP (Hal N. Brooks) (08/26/88)
AN IMPORTANT POINT: When rn is invoked and can't find a .newsrc file, then the newsetup shell script is invoked. Newsetup should be giving a short message, just before it exits, saying where new users can get information. I'LL BET MONEY, but very little :-), THAT A LOT OF SITES' NEWSETUP SCRIPTS STILL DIRECT NEW USERS TO THE DEFUNCT MOD.ANNOUNCE.NEWUSER GROUP. This should be checked by all news administrators, and local information (e.g., where to go for advice locally) might well be included in that message. And another thing. Down here in Georgia, we call the group under discussion news.announce.newusers, not news.announce.newuser. Maybe that's why everybody else's is empty. :-0 Or maybe it's just a matter of regional accents. *8-) In article <2457@inco.UUCP> mack@inco.uu.net (Dave Mack) writes: >NO! Until we have a better system for educating new users, >n.a.n is the only mechanism for training them ... Agreed. Please don't give up on n.a.n., spaf. >I agree with Allison and weemba: there should be an automated >(dare I say enforced?) mechanism for training the newbies. It >should be built into the newsreaders. Don't try to enforce this! First, there are too many newsreaders out there that will never get the modifications anyway. Second, if I install news on a new machine I don't want to sit through an hour's worth newbie initiation (though it would probably do me good). Perhaps vnews and other newsreaders could just do something similar to what rn does (see important point, above). >Is there any point in doing this? Is the idea worthwhile? NO! >Am I completely insane? I doubt it, but I'm not really qualified to say. Maybe you should see a trained professional. :-) -hal {gatech!}ugacs!hal