ray@j.cc.purdue.edu (Ray Moody) (07/10/88)
As you may have guessed by my silence, the comp.sources.cbm and
comp.binaries.cbm vote has failed. The total for comp.binaries.cbm is 123 in
favor and 52 against. For comp.sources.cbm, 112 in favor and 32 against. (for
those of you that are reading this in comp.sys.cbm and don't know, it takes 100
more yes votes than no votes.)
There seems to be a lot of interest, but not quite enough to justify
creating a group in the comp hierarchy. There are several things we can do.
1) We can create the groups in the alternate hierarchy.
My local news administrator has shown me how I can create a
newsgroup in the alternate hierarchy, but he also warned me that there
is no guarantee that anyone will honor my newgroup message. I don't
plan to do this until after after there has been some discussion in
alt.config, if at all.
Comp.sys.cbm readers: I know that the alternate news hierarchy has
limited distribution. Do you want to to have newsgroups created in the
alternate hierarchy for the distribution of software for 8-bit Commodore
machines? Mail me your comments.
2) We can wait and vote again later.
We stand a better chance of winning if we vote in the fall when
colleges are session. This might make a difference considering how
close the vote was.) Create a mailing list.
4) Use comp.sys.cbm.
Needless to say, the net-gods would be furious if we started posting
huge binaries to comp.sys.cbm. But there is nothing to stop people from
*reviewing* free software in this newsgroup. People could give a quick
description of their favorite piece of software, and quote electronic
mail address from which the software may be obtained. I could arrange
to archive comp.sys.cbm (to a magtape, of course!) and provide back
issues for people looking for software. I could also archive any
binaries sent to me.
Of course, this offer is contingent upon me not being overwhelmed
by requests to dig stuff out of the archives... Or upon me being able
to find enough help.
5) None of the above.
This is a call for ideas. I am sure many people reading this have
good ones. Lets talk about them!
Ray