bill@twwells.uucp (T. William Wells) (05/10/89)
In article <995@cipc1.Dayton.NCR.COM> reubanks@cipc1.Dayton.NCR.COM (Russell Eubanks) writes:
: I'm still relatively new to usenet. Is it possible to access the
: net via compu$erve? (My apologies if this is the wrong group - I
: didn't see a newuser.questions group :-)
Hey, there's an idea: a news.newusers group, for helping beginning
users! If there was some way to let new users know that their
beginning questions could be answered in one place, we might be able
to cut down that noise in other groups. And it might cut down on the
burden of system administrators. Furthermore, new users who
subscribed might well discover, in the answers to other people's
questions things they hadn't thought to ask.
Now if we could just figure a way to let new users know of the group!
Followups have been directed to news.groups.
---
Bill { uunet | novavax } !twwells!billdiamond@diamond.csl.sony.junet (Norman Diamond) (05/11/89)
In article <911@twwells.uucp> bill@twwells.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes: >Hey, there's an idea: a news.newusers group, for helping beginning >users! If there was some way to let new users know that their >beginning questions could be answered in one place, we might be able >to cut down that noise in other groups. And it might cut down on the >burden of system administrators. Furthermore, new users who >subscribed might well discover, in the answers to other people's >questions things they hadn't thought to ask. >Now if we could just figure a way to let new users know of the group! >Followups have been directed to news.groups. Wouldn't news.announce.newusers fit the bill? It helps beginning users. Their beginning questions are mostly answered in one place. We should be able to cut down that noise in other groups. And it should cut down on the burden of system administrators. Furthermore, new users who subscribe might well discover ... etc. Now, if we could just figure a way to let new users know of the group! Problem is, if we can't let existing users, including famous heavy users of the group, know about news.announce.newusers, how can we let new users know about it? Hmm. Followups have been redirected back to news.misc. -- Norman Diamond, Sony Computer Science Lab (diamond%csl.sony.co.jp@relay.cs.net) The above opinions are my own. | Why are programmers criticized for If they're also your opinions, | re-inventing the wheel, when car you're infringing my copyright. | manufacturers are praised for it?
wcs) (05/16/89)
In article <97@orchid.warwick.ac.uk> estmdhb@warwick.ac.uk (Julian Greenwood) writes:
]>Hey, there's an idea: a news.newusers group, for helping beginning users!.....
My first reaction was to think "but we have news.announce.newusers", but
there really is a need for an interactive newsgroup where new users
can post questions. Much of what I know about how the net works
(technically, as opposed to how it works socially) has come from
things like getting news and rn to work on my machine, dealing with
the problems that an administrator deals with but a user doesn't,
reading the source code and documentation that should be available
to everyone but isn't always easy for a novice to find, etc.
news.newusers would especially help with problems like the annual
crowd of new students who know enough to be dangerous and would like
to know enough to be competent - maybe this can delay the
Death of Usenet As We Know It
which is announced every 6-9 months?
The original posting was in news.misc, and had a few replies - some
from experienced people and some from new users. Is it time for a
Call For Discussion?
Bill
--
# Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 2G218 Holmdel NJ 201-949-0705 ho95c.att.com!wcs
# also found at 201-271-4712 tarpon.att.com!wcs
# But the treaty says we have to give Panama back to the Panamanians!
# Don't worry - we'll think of something. Corruption? Yeah, that's it!bill@twwells.uucp (T. William Wells) (05/17/89)
In article <10240@socslgw.csl.sony.JUNET> diamond@csl.sony.junet (Norman Diamond) writes: : In article <911@twwells.uucp> bill@twwells.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes: : : >Hey, there's an idea: a news.newusers group, for helping beginning : >users! If there was some way to let new users know that their : >beginning questions could be answered in one place, we might be able : >to cut down that noise in other groups. And it might cut down on the : >burden of system administrators. Furthermore, new users who : >subscribed might well discover, in the answers to other people's : >questions things they hadn't thought to ask. : : >Now if we could just figure a way to let new users know of the group! : : >Followups have been directed to news.groups. : : Wouldn't news.announce.newusers fit the bill? It helps beginning : users. No. News.announce.newusers has several drawbacks: it is general, meaning that questions which are specific to a particular kind of system don't get answered. it is noninteractive, meaning that if the original explanation is not sufficient, the new user is stuck. it is static, meaning that the only questions answered are those someone has so far thought to answer. The world of questions is much wider than that. And another point: someone monitoring the proposed group might well discover something that should be included in n.a.n. : Now, if we could just figure a way to let new users know of the group! Silly person, you missed the point: n.a.n. already exists and has the sanction of many, if not most, news administrators. Getting another group to the same point may not be a trivial task, if for no other reason than it may not have as wide acceptance. : Followups have been redirected back to news.misc. Like hell! They've been directed back where they belong, to news.groups. --- Mr. Diamond, that was irresponsible of you. It is one thing to assert, as you did with your not too successful sarcasm, that you believe the proposal lacks merit; it is quite another to waste bandwidth in an inappropriate group. Perhaps you would benefit from the answers to some new-user type questions? --- Bill { uunet | novavax } !twwells!bill
diamond@diamond.csl.sony.junet (Norman Diamond) (05/18/89)
In article <911@twwells.uucp> bill@twwells.UUCP (T. William Wells) wrote: >>>Hey, there's an idea: a news.newusers group, for helping beginning ... I wrote: >>Wouldn't news.announce.newusers fit the bill? ... In article <925@twwells.uucp> bill@twwells.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes: >No. News.announce.newusers has several drawbacks: Several others have suggested the same thing, and have convinced me. OK... >>Followups have been redirected back to news.misc. >Like hell! Huh? What was wrong with that? >Mr. Diamond, that was irresponsible of you. It is one thing to >assert, as you did with your not too successful sarcasm, that you >believe the proposal lacks merit; it is quite another to waste >bandwidth in an inappropriate group. I really thought that you were unaware of news.announce.newusers. After all it is not made obvious to new users that n.a.n exists, and if you never had occasion to find out about it later, then you might not guess that it exists. I did not think your proposal was unreason- able, only unnecessary (and have since been convinced otherwise). And although I often try to be witty, I was not trying to be sarcastic. Please look again to see if I criticized you or hinted at a criticism, or impugned your intelligence, etc. In fact, I hinted at exactly the opposite. Please look at what was said, in addition to how it was said. I am sorry that you took it as sarcasm, and I will try to be more careful in the future. >Perhaps you would benefit from the answers to some new-user type >questions? Uh, by this time, I think you also might, Bill. -- Norman Diamond, Sony Computer Science Lab (diamond%csl.sony.co.jp@relay.cs.net) The above opinions are my own. | Why are programmers criticized for If they're also your opinions, | re-implementing the wheel, when car you're infringing my copyright. | manufacturers are praised for it?
estmdhb@warwick.ac.uk (estmdhb) (05/19/89)
In article <623@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> wcs@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (Bill Stewart 201-949-0705 ho95c.att.com!wcs) writes: >In article <97@orchid.warwick.ac.uk> estmdhb@warwick.ac.uk (Julian Greenwood) writes: >]>Hey, there's an idea: a news.newusers group, for helping beginning users!..... I didn't actually, bill@twwells.UCCP (T. William Wells) wrote it in article <911@twwells.uccp>. I replied to his article. However, I agree entirely with what Bill Stewart says (below). In fact I count myself as one of the annual crowd of new students to which he refers! >My first reaction was to think "but we have news.announce.newusers", but >there really is a need for an interactive newsgroup where new users >can post questions. > > [Stuff missed] > >news.newusers would especially help with problems like the annual >crowd of new students who know enough to be dangerous and would like >to know enough to be competent - maybe this can delay the > Death of Usenet As We Know It >which is announced every 6-9 months? > >The original posting was in news.misc, and had a few replies - some >from experienced people and some from new users. Is it time for a >Call For Discussion? Julian JANET: estmdhb@uk.ac.warwick.cu