[news.groups] net.sources -> ?

kurt@hi.UUCP (Kurt Zeilenga) (05/05/87)

With all this renaming going on I have lost track of where
users are to post misc. sources without going thru a moderator.

I looked in the latest greatest "newsgroups" posting from
spaf and noticed there is no appropriate group.  No comp.sources,
comp.sources.misc is moderated.

Or, did we decide to do force moderation on sources and binaries
(did we? did we? I hope so).

Anyways, I have aliases net.sources to be comp.sources until I
get the word from the net.gods.

-- 
	Kurt Zeilenga	 (zeilenga@hc.dspo.gov)		I want my talk.flame!

	"So long, Mom, I'm off to drop the bomb..."

billw@wolf.UUCP (05/05/87)

Yes, all sources groups are moderated. There was quite an uproar about this
a while ago, I am quite surprised you missed it.
-- 
Bill Wisner
..{sdcsvax,ihnp4}!jack!wolf!billw
--
You had mail, but the superuser read it and deleted it.

marms@sandia.UUCP (Mike Arms) (05/06/87)

In article <332@wolf.UUCP> billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill Wisner) writes:
>Yes, all sources groups are moderated. There was quite an uproar about this
>a while ago, I am quite surprised you missed it.


I, too, have been disturbed that the unmoderated net.sources group was
being replaced by the moderated comp.sources.misc group. As has been
pointed out, the moderator of the misc sources group will often not be
able to execute the packages and even do a rudimentary test for functionality,
completeness, or detection of "trojan horses".

So what do we get with this moderated misc sources group? One positive
aspect is that we only get code and maybe some bug fixes. We don't get
those stupid "request for Part n of m that didn't get to my part of the net"
or "will somebody please send me the sources to Hack|Rogue|UltraRogue|Empire|
Larn|Elm|Ispell|... as nauseum"! Our site likes to keep source archives,
so eliminating this noise is a plus.

On the other hand, we get none of the other usual benefits of moderation
while accepting the normal delays involved in going thru a moderator.
Wading thru all of the chaff in net.sources was made worthwhile by the
gems that could sometimes be found there. Often authors would post short 
utilities or early releases of large systems (UNaXcess). Also, if the
misc sources group was unmoderated, we could get those code postings
out of the system groups such as comp.sys.ibm.pc.

I would like voice support for changing comp.sources.misc from moderated
to unmoderated (sorry Brandon). I welcome all discussion of this topic,
pro or con. I do feel this discussion should be public rather than e-mail.
Thank you for your consideration of this topic.

-- 
Mike Arms
uucp:  ...{ucbvax | gatech}!unmvax!sandia!marms

woods@hao.UUCP (05/07/87)

In article <237@sandia.UUCP> marms@sandia.UUCP (Mike Arms) writes:
>So what do we get with this moderated misc sources group? One positive
>aspect is that we only get code and maybe some bug fixes. We don't get
>those stupid "request for Part n of m that didn't get to my part of the net"

  This is, as far as I know, the ONLY reason. Seems like a pretty good one
to me. This way the SOURCES group contains SOURCES, not discussion. We (the
entire net) have pleaded over and over again for people to refrain from
posting non-sources to the source group, to no avail. Moderation is the
only answer to this problem.

>On the other hand, we get none of the other usual benefits of moderation
>while accepting the normal delays involved in going thru a moderator.

  If you want those "other benefits", you can use Rich Salz's group,
comp.sources.unix. This group is NOT intended to replace that one. Since
the moderator is NOT going to spend a lot of time making sure that the sources
work, the "delays" in comp.sources should be minimal.

--Greg
-- 
UUCP: {hplabs, seismo, nbires, noao}!hao!woods
CSNET: woods@ncar.csnet  ARPA: woods%ncar@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
INTERNET: woods@hao.ucar.edu

twb@hoqax.UUCP (BEATTIE) (05/08/87)

In article <237@sandia.UUCP>, marms@sandia.UUCP (Mike Arms) writes:
: In article <332@wolf.UUCP> billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill Wisner) writes:
: :Yes, all sources groups are moderated. There was quite an uproar about this
: :a while ago, I am quite surprised you missed it.
:
: I would like voice support for changing comp.sources.misc from moderated
: to unmoderated (sorry Brandon).
: Mike Arms
: uucp:  ...{ucbvax | gatech}!unmvax!sandia!marms

1. I didn't see any discussion of this change.
2. Why can't we have a moderated and an unmoderated group?
3. Unmoderated source code posting are going to happen, please let them
	be collected in one place.
Tom.

sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) (05/09/87)

In article <237@sandia.UUCP> marms@sandia.UUCP (Mike Arms) writes:
>In article <332@wolf.UUCP> billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill Wisner) writes:
>>Yes, all sources groups are moderated. There was quite an uproar about this
>>a while ago, I am quite surprised you missed it.
>
>
>I, too, have been disturbed that the unmoderated net.sources group was
>being replaced by the moderated comp.sources.misc group. As has been
>pointed out, the moderator of the misc sources group will often not be
>able to execute the packages and even do a rudimentary test for functionality,
>completeness, or detection of "trojan horses".
>
>So what do we get with this moderated misc sources group? One positive
>aspect is that we only get code and maybe some bug fixes. We don't get
>those stupid "request for Part n of m that didn't get to my part of the net"
>
>On the other hand, we get none of the other usual benefits of moderation
>while accepting the normal delays involved in going thru a moderator.
 

I would like to throw my support behind moderation. 

However I am also concerned with the possible delays in postings due to
moderation. 

But, there seems to be a possible solution. 

		How about multiple moderators.
				  ********


The stated principles of moderation for comp.sources.misc is simply to
divert anything other sources to sources.d, sources.bugs or sources.wanted
as appropriate.

Given this, lets get a number of moderators scattered about the net.
Hopefully so that almost everyone is no more than one or two short and
reliable hops away from a moderator. This would give people more confidence 
in being able to quickly get their sources onto the net.

Heck, maybe Eugene Miya could sponsor a contest in comp.ai.digest to get
an expert system developed to do the job :-)


-- 
Stuart Lynne	ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!van-bc!sl     Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532

henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (05/10/87)

> I would like voice support for changing comp.sources.misc from moderated
> to unmoderated (sorry Brandon)...

Here's a radical suggestion:  how about waiting a couple of months to find
out whether the new order of things is really all that bad?
-- 
"If you want PL/I, you know       Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
where to find it." -- DMR         {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry

allbery@ncoast.UUCP (05/12/87)

As quoted from <237@sandia.UUCP> by marms@sandia.UUCP (Mike Arms):
+---------------
| I, too, have been disturbed that the unmoderated net.sources group was
| being replaced by the moderated comp.sources.misc group. As has been
| pointed out, the moderator of the misc sources group will often not be
| able to execute the packages and even do a rudimentary test for functionality,
| completeness, or detection of "trojan horses".
+---------------

Note that the packages which need this belong elsewhere.  I am making arrange-
ments to get a C compiler other than Mix C, but I can't test VMS sources.
(The solution for both is separate source groups, really.  The moderator for
a VMS source group ought to be on a Eunice site.)

I *can* and *will* test Un*x sources.

+---------------
| On the other hand, we get none of the other usual benefits of moderation
| while accepting the normal delays involved in going thru a moderator.
| Wading thru all of the chaff in net.sources was made worthwhile by the
| gems that could sometimes be found there. Often authors would post short 
| utilities or early releases of large systems (UNaXcess). Also, if the
| misc sources group was unmoderated, we could get those code postings
| out of the system groups such as comp.sys.ibm.pc.
+---------------

I find it very interesting that you mention UNaXcess...!  (Almost contra-
dictory to your posting.)

Note that these kinds of things WILL be accepted and WILL be tested.  Again,
the "no testing" was directed at MS-DOS and VMS sources.  (Of course, if
someone wants to donate me a MicroVAX II running VMS, I won't say no....)
(Anti-VMS flamers stick it; the two really can't be compared, they are
intended for different purposes.)

+---------------
| I would like voice support for changing comp.sources.misc from moderated
| to unmoderated (sorry Brandon). I welcome all discussion of this topic,
| pro or con. I do feel this discussion should be public rather than e-mail.
| Thank you for your consideration of this topic.
+---------------

I originally got into this when we tried to set up a moderated MS-DOS
sources group (which fell through, as usual).  If someone will set this
up and someone will set up a VMS sources group, then comp.sources.misc
will be guaranteed all the advantages of moderation (within reason; only
a Sun can test the Sun morse code program, would this be a reason to un-
moderate a sources group on seismo?).

Alternatively, someone at a local VMS site could give me a login so I can
test the VMS stuff, and I can get the C compiler for MS-DOS.

++Brando (moderator of comp.sources.misc)
-- 
Copyright (C) 1987 Brandon S. Allbery -- you can redistribute only if your
	recipients can.

Brandon S. Allbery	{decvax,cbatt,cbosgd}!cwruecmp!ncoast!allbery
Tridelta Industries	{ames,mit-eddie,talcott}!necntc!ncoast!allbery
7350 Corporate Blvd.	necntc!ncoast!allbery@harvard.HARVARD.EDU
Mentor, OH 44060	+01 216 255 1080	(also eddie.MIT.EDU)

nerd@percival.UUCP (05/12/87)

In article <696@van-bc.UUCP> sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) writes:
>But, there seems to be a possible solution. 

>		How about multiple moderators.
>				  ********

In principle I like the idea, in reality though I beleive this would lead
to several articles ending up posted multiple times due to people/mailers
sending a submision to more than one moderator.  This could be solved by
networking the moderators, but the time overhead would destroy any and
all advantages to be gotten from multiple moderators.
If I missed a major point in your posting, let me know, heck, I'm as bad
a twit as any, worse than most.
-michael
-- 
If my employer knew my opinions he would probably look for another engineer.

	Michael Galassi, Frye Electronics, Tigard, OR
	..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4,seismo}!tektronix!reed!percival!nerd

cc_is@bath63.UUCP (05/15/87)

Multiple moderators are a good idea. Why should we in Europe pay to send
our submissions across the 'pond', just to have them returned in the news.
comp.sources.misc is moderated (I understand) just to remove the noise,
and not to apply any standards. (I think this is good).
-- 
Mr I. W. J.  Sparry	Phone:	+44 225 826826 x 5983
University of Bath	JANET:	cc_is@UK.AC.BATH.UX63
Bath BA2 7AY		UUCP:	seismo!mcvax!ukc!bath63!cc_is (bath63.UUCP)
England			ARPA:	cc_is%ux63.bath.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa

mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) (05/31/87)

In article <8011@utzoo.UUCP>, henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) quotes:
>> I would like voice support for changing comp.sources.misc from
>> moderated to unmoderated (sorry Brandon)...
and writes:
> Here's a radical suggestion:  how about waiting a couple of months to
> find out whether the new order of things is really all that bad?

Except that experience has shown that if you give anything a couple of
months to get established it is *much* harder to change it.  It is much
easier to make things change one way instead of another than it is to
make things change rather than stay the way they are.

					der Mouse

				(mouse@mcgill-vision.uucp)