[news.groups] For Sale Postings

holland@m2.csc.ti.com (Fred Hollander) (03/09/89)

In article <10790@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> e118-ak@euler.UUCP (e118 student) writes:

>It occurs to me that, given the very broad natures of both comp.sys.mac
>and misc.forsale, that having a specific group just for macintosh for
>sale postings would be an EXCELLENT idea.  I really don't care to read
>about for-sale postings for Atari, Commodore, etc., which I don't own.
>Most of the time I don't care to read for-sale postings for Macintosh,
>either; they clutter up comp.sys.mac.  Why not put them in a nice area
>where I can find them if I want them without having to sift through
>either of the more general groups?  Seems uncommonly common-sense to
>me.

You are correct that comp.sys.mac covers a very broad area.  If you believe
that For Sale postings clutter the group, you need to agree that most of
the postings (including the many anti-For Sale postings) are clutter for
readers with a very specific interest.  The point is this group serves many
different interest groups and some are interested in For Sale postings -
witness the successful sale of the items posted.

Most of the For Sale postings that I have seen (and posted) include the words
"For Sale" and a brief description of the item for sale in the Subject line.
What more could you ask for!  If you're not interested, don't read it!  The
same goes for any posting.  There should be a descriptive Subject line so
those without interest can save time by not reading it.

People waste more time trying to impose restrictions on postings that
they're not interested in, supposedly in the interest of saving net
bandwith and readers' time.  How ironic that these discussions end up
taking more time and bandwith than the postings in question!  Read and
let post!

>
>-- Linc Madison = e118-ak@euler.berkeley.edu
>"Folk wisdom: never judge a man until you have danced in his spike
>heels." (Alan Miller, from "At the Club")

Fred Hollander
Computer Science Center
Texas Instruments, Inc.
hollander@ti.com

The above statements are my own and not representative of Texas Instruments.