eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (03/23/89)
Sorry to interrupt people's bashing of international network stars (well Brad did make the SJ Merc). But I have kind of a sober proposal for a new news group. Recently, in one of the fringe rec groups, a certain well-known personality recently died. Who isn't important. He had nothing directly to do with computers (hated them in fact), but in that case, I made a move to approach the Geographic Board of Names to honor that person. (you have to wait 2 years, BTW) It was also during that time I had a chance to correspond with another net guru about some wisdom once published by Alan Perlis at Yale. I once met Perlis, and he was much older than I thought. Netters, clearly we are getting older. In fact, a lot of netters are older than many might think. A couple of years ago, two very nice postings came from former Univ. of Utah people eulogizing the passing of Elliott Organick (remember MULTICS?) and they were posted to comp.arch. This wasn't completely appropriate, but I think clearly, this will happen with the aging of our computer systems and early computer pioneers. Dan Slotnick (one of the fathers of parallel processing) from the U. Ill died a few years ago. Maurice Wilkins is getting older. And so on. While the topic maybe grim, it is news. And newspapers do have obit columns. In the case of people like Organick. Some from ex-students might be collected. I don't propose moderation (Gawd, who's got the time), but relevant groups might be cross-posted, if soc.obit was the only follow-up. Problems: people eulogizing the loss of their cat (if people don't like cats), the loss of their computer systems (see Levy's comment about Stallman in Hackers [I've no objection in that case]). Personal attacks on these mourner by people less serious could be a problem. Further discussion, or need we say more? A straw poll ran about 4:1 in favor before I sent a cancel notice out. Another gross generalization from --eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: "Mailers?! HA!", "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology." Domains, the zip codes of networks.
dattier@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US (David W. Tamkin) (03/24/89)
Eugene Miya wrote in <2972@eos.UUCP> in news.groups and news.misc: | Sorry to interrupt people's bashing of international network stars | (well Brad did make the SJ Merc). But I have kind of a sober | proposal for a new news group. | | [proposal of soc.obit] A lot of people might find setting aside a separate newsgroup a bit morbid. When a net.personality passes away, a short article to soc.net-people, a group that already exists, would be appropriate. Since computers and cats are not net-PEOPLE (some of you may think of your cats as people, but they don't use the net), there would be less chance of the problems Eugene foresees (of obituaries for cats and computers). Readers of soc.net-people who do not wish to see obituaries can skip or auto-kill by subject or keyword. Readers of soc.net-people who wish to see ONLY the obituaries can kill all articles and revive obituaries by subject or keyword. The volume in soc.net-people and the expected volume of obituary postings are light enough that the two could co-exist in a single group. I propose posting death notices to soc.net-people instead of creating a separate group. Memorial tributes can go to rec.arts.poetry or alt.prose or in some cases to the group where the departed was known best. Follow-ups are directed to news.groups. (Yes, I can do that now! It's so good to be off Portal!) David W. Tamkin POB 567542 Norridge IL 60656-7542 | 16 Adar Sheni 5749 dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us Jolnet Public Access Unix | GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN ...!killer!jolnet!dattier Orland Park, Illinois | CIS: 73720,1570 Anyone on Jolnet who agrees with me is welcome to speak up on his or her own.
chuck@melmac.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) (03/24/89)
I think this is a good idea. I would agree that contemplating the
demise of various "stars" within our industry is a bit depressing, but
certainly those who have excelled and advanced our field deserve some
posthumous reflection by their colleagues. This field is quite young,
and is only now beginning to accumulate a sense of history that say,
mathematics, or physics, has. Perhaps obituaries would help people
realize all the work that has gone on before them, and help them place
themselves in the history of computing.
I would hope that people would respect the group and not post frivolous
things, and certainly not flame dead people, but then again, one can never
underestimate the maturity of the net.
Chuck Musciano ARPA : chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com
Harris Corporation Usenet: ...!uunet!x102a!trantor!chuck
PO Box 37, MS 3A/1912 AT&T : (407) 727-6131
Melbourne, FL 32902 FAX : (407) 727-5510woods@ncar.ucar.edu (Greg Woods) (03/24/89)
In article <2972@eos.UUCP> eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) writes:
(a half dozen examples of possibly appropriate articles for a new group
which occurred over a period of several years)
This hardly seems like overwhelming enough volume to justify a new group.
What's wrong with just posting obits in soc.net-people?
--Gregcsu@alembic.UUCP (Dave Mack) (03/24/89)
In article <2972@eos.UUCP> eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) writes: >Problems: people eulogizing the loss of their cat (if people don't >like cats), the loss of their computer systems (see Levy's comment >about Stallman in Hackers [I've no objection in that case]). >Personal attacks on these mourner by people less serious could be >a problem. Agreed. The tragic death of John Holmes was recently mentioned in alt.sex. We need someplace where this sort of information can be gathered without having to wade through the gibberish. However, I'm not sure a newsgroup is quite the thing. How about a simple announcement in news.lists or news.announce.important with followups to misc.whatever? -- Dave Mack death stinks
rfm@urth (Rich McAllister) (03/24/89)
If the group is to hold obituaries of people prominent in computing, comp.obit would be more appropriate. If it is to hold obituaries of net.personalites, net.obit would be fine. soc.obit is a net too widely cast. Rich McAllister (rfm@sun.com)