rafael@proxftl.UUCP (Rafael Mayer) (06/20/88)
In article <50@uisc1.UUCP>, root@uisc1.UUCP (Super user) writes: > I would like to air one gripe that has been steadily building as I have > been reading various posts on the question/advice oriented newsgroups. > > The trend is to ask a question, and then to finish it by saying "Please > reply to E-mail/private mail as I am too busy to keep up with this > conference/newsgroup." > What's the result? Well, the result is a newsgroup in which you have lots > and lots of questions, and no answers. The result is also that people > stop reading the newsgroup, as nobody is really terribly interested in > the questions. It's the answers and the advice people are reading it for. > > Comments and Feedback encouraged, publicly to this newsgroup. Actually there is a good reason for this. Person X posts a question on newsgroup Y and 30 people know the answer. If they all posted the answers to the net then we would get high volume and redundancy in newsgroup Y. I agree that questions without answers are annoying, the alternative practice I have seen takes care of this problem. If you post a question to the net add the following: Respond by E-mail, and I will summarize to the net. This way, we avoid seeing repeat postings of the same answer, and if there is more than one solution, they are all neatly summarized in a single article. It works. +-----------------------------------------------------+--------------------+ | Rafael Mayer | This space | | UUCP: {ihnp4!codas,allegra}!novavax!proxftl!rafael | for rent. | |_____________________________________________________|____________________| | Smooth ice | Friedrich | | Is paradise | Wilhelm | | For those who dance with expertise. | Nietzsche | +------------------------------------------------------------+-------------+