news@gould9.UUCP (News Administrator) (09/28/86)
In the beginning there was INFO-MAC, which was the word, and the source of all knowledge. INFO-MAC was known by many names, including fa.info-mac, mod.computers.macintosh, mod.mac, and perhaps someday comp.mac. There's always been an overlap with net.micro.mac, but it seems like the two groups have changed in the last few months. So, if: A) you read news regularly B) you read at least one news group or mailing list regarding the Apple Macintosh I would appreciate it if you would respond to the questionaire below. Based on your response to Question #1 below, please send your response to: gould9!mac-yes gould9!mac-no Common paths include ihnp4!gould9 decwrl!pyramid!gould9 seismo!s3sun!gould9 decvax!sdcsvax!gould9 cbosgd!gould9 mac-xxx%gould9@NOSC.ARPA (or gould9!mac-xxx@nosc.arpa) Also, to make it easy to mechanically tabulate results, please list the response to the questions in the subject line, as in: mail ihnp4!gould9!mac-yes Subject: YYNYNNYYYE If you have any comments, feel free to include them. If you have other queries, please address them to gould9!mac-poll. Of course, the results will be posted to the net when complete. ------------------ 1) Do you read INFO-MAC, either through mod.mac or as part of a mailing list? 2) Do you read the Delphi Digests, published in mod.mac, and previously under net.micro.mac? 3) Do you read the Usenet Digests, available from SUMEX-AIM? 4) Do you read net.micro.mac? 5) Have you posted to INFO-MAC? 6) Have you posted to net.micro.mac? 7) Does your site receive mod.mac? 8) Does your site receive mod.mac.binaries and mod.mac.sources? 9) Does your site receive net.sources.mac? 10) If you were to receive only one of the current Mac newsgroups, which would you prefer: A) mod.mac B) net.micro.mac C) mod.mac.{binaries,sources} D) net.sources.mac E) unsure 11) Please give any comments, such as on the quality of response obtained from prior postings, Signal/noise ratio, timeliness, technical depth, etc.... -- News administrator for gould9 (Joel West) {cbosgd,ihnp4,pyramid,sdcsvax,ucla-cs}!gould9!news gould9!news@nosc.ARPA
joel@gould9.UUCP (Joel West) (10/04/86)
I had earlier posted a survey to USENET readers of net.micro.mac asking about what Macintosh news groups they read and liked. The answers are below; some totals don't add up because some people didn't give 10 answers. Not suprisingly, net.micro.mac readers read INFO-MAC. Predictably, those that like mod.mac deplore the low signal/noise of net.micro.mac, particularly with the perennial flame wars (e.g, amiga vs. mac). Those that like net.micro.mac like its timeliness. Both are accurate assessments. Also, some USENET members say they don't know how to post to INFO-MAC from their UUCP-only site. Among the comments, some felt net.micro.mac was too technical; others felt it was clutterred with too many non-technical discussions. Personal comment: I posted the survey because I wanted to know which of the three newsgroups: - to read - to save (in printed form, in a binder) - to post queries and comments to I've felt recently that I must read all three (including delphi digests) to get the most out of the net. At one point, early on, INFO-MAC was much, much, more useful than net.micro.mac, as will be true with a well-run moderated newsgroup with a strong readership. I suspect its preeminence was killed during its long hiatus, when everyone had to find an alternative. Joel West MCI Mail: 282-8879 Western Software Technology, POB 2733, Vista, CA 92083 {cbosgd, ihnp4, pyramid, sdcsvax, ucla-cs} !gould9!joel joel%gould9.uucp@NOSC.ARPA ---------------------------Survey results follow------------------------- A total of 64 responses were received. 1) Do you read INFO-MAC, either through mod.mac or as part of a mailing list? Y) 61 (95%) N) 3 (4%) 2) Do you read the Delphi Digests, published in mod.mac, and previously under net.micro.mac? Y) 55 (85%) N) 9 (14%) 3) Do you read the Usenet Digests, available from SUMEX-AIM? N) 57 (89%) Y) 7 (10%) 4) Do you read net.micro.mac? Y) 63 (98%) N) 1 (1%) 5) Have you posted to INFO-MAC? N) 48 (75%) Y) 16 (25%) 6) Have you posted to net.micro.mac? Y) 61 (95%) N) 3 (4%) 7) Does your site receive mod.mac? Y) 61 (95%) N) 3 (4%) 8) Does your site receive mod.mac.binaries and mod.mac.sources? Y) 62 (96%) N) 2 (3%) 9) Does your site receive net.sources.mac? N) 48 (75%) Y) 16 (25%) 10) If you were to receive only one of the current Mac newsgroups, which would you prefer: A) 11 (17%) mod.mac C) 11 (17%) net.micro.mac B) 9 (14%) mod.mac.{binaries,sources} D) 2 (3%) net.sources.mac E) 27 (42%) unsure/no answer ------------------------------------------------------------------------