emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) (04/05/90)
Hi. There's been a lot of discussion about which new X groups to create, but little concensus. Traffic on comp.windows.x is enormous, and the list reaches so many people I hate to post my stupid little questions to it, for fear of embarrassment and knowlege of how many mailboxes in the world I'm filling up. So, I suggest this temporary experiment. Create some new groups under the "alt.x-windows", names to suggest themselves as they come up. (A number of them have already been tossed around.) These groups will not be under the wing of the X Consortium, nor will they necessarily be gatewayed to mailing lists for the time being. Step back and watch where people start to post. If new groups are needed, create them under alt.x-windows first to watch how things work out. After a certain suitable amount of time (carefully left unspecified), it will become obvious that some groups will have enough traffic and quality to deserve promotion into the official comp.windows.x hierarchy and to be properly gatewayed into Internet mailing lists. At this point the new comp.windows.x.subgroup will be created under the 'inet' rules (no vote needed) and the corresponding alt group rmgroup'ed. Some groups which deserve a trial include alt.x-windows.motif alt.x-windows.terminals alt.x-windows.xview but hey, this is alt, if you have an idea for a group just put it forward, justify it, and be prepared to generate useful traffic in it. Sensible posters will selectively cross-post to comp.windows.x to make sure they get a big enough audience, at least to start out; as time passes the critical mass in the alt groups should bring it to the point where the cross-post is unnecessary to attract the right crowd. After a few months of this give-and-take the traffic should sort itself out nicely. (Either that, or it was a failed experiment, and I won't suggest it again.) Coordinate suggested groups in alt.config so that two or more people don't create "the same group" with a slightly different name. Comments to alt.config. --Ed Edward Vielmetti, U of Michigan math dept. emv@math.lsa.umich.edu