bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (07/12/84)
Right now it's summer, and most schools are on vacation, and a sizable percentage of other people are in the same state. So the net is quieter. Yet it's still growing. Will the return of all these people, plus the usual growth, be the final straw for the net? If so, what can we do..... It's gotta happen someday folks, the question is, when? -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
hokey@plus5.UUCP (Hokey) (07/15/84)
> Right now it's summer, and most schools are on vacation, and a sizable > percentage of other people are in the same state. So the net is > quieter. Yet it's still growing. Will the return of all these people, > plus the usual growth, be the final straw for the net? > > If so, what can we do..... > It's gotta happen someday folks, the question is, when? > -- > Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304 Seems to me it is about time that we news administrators became more responsible for the actions of our users. I was Really Impressed by the second message in my References: line. I don't mean to sound like I am flaming Tom for being ignorant of the workings of the Distribution: line. I don't flame people for ignorance (stupidity is another story). Rhetorical Question: Why didn't Tom ask his news adm? Mark Horton moaned at the SLC show that he gets nasty letters from some news neophytes when he tells them they should post some of their articles to groups other than net.general. They say "Who are you to tell me what to do?". I suggested to Mark that he write the news administrator at that site instead. He replied that his mail gets returned because the target is an "Unknown User". The news administrator should be responsible for both the news software and the availability of documentation on the correct use of news at his site (pardon the pronoun). The news administrator should expect the software and documentation to be available. If a site is not capable of responsibly administering its news system then that responsibility should be assumed by a neighbor, or the site should be bounced from the net. The following is a list of issues and possible answers. 1) We need better news software. Problem: Volunteers? Answer: Pay somebody to write the software. Problem: Too many sites exist because management allegedly doesn't know about usenet. Answer: Hide the cost. If each site spent $100 more on their membership dues to /usr/group, usenix, or some similar organization, there would be enough money to fund a full-time effort along these lines. Gee whiz, maybe we could clone a better version of uucp and *roff when this is done. This software, I believe, won't get written *in a timely manner* if we expect it to come from either volunteer effort or from the private sector. Wishlist: Provide facility for the screening of articles from "new" users. I don't want to see censorship or editorialization of articles, but I would like to see a reduction in the amount of net cruft. Have rnews tell the local admin and the sending site whenever an article comes in with a bad Line: count or illegal newsgroups. This will put the heat where the fire is. Automatic maintenance of the active file with respect to what newsgroups should (not) be there. It should handle organizational, regional, local, and "to" groups. Online documentation should be a standard part of the system. People should be able to EASILY find a list of valid newsgroups and what they are for. 2) Responsible administration of the news net. Problem: Administrators don't have the proper tools. Answer: Better Sotware Problem: Administrators don't have the time. Answer: Have somebody else administer the stuff (perhaps a neighbor). Problem: What is a site can't/won't do it? Answer: Have a neighbor administer their news operations. Kick them off. Live with the results. 3) The education of local users should be the responsibility of the local site. See (2). I'd appreciate constructive comments and criticisms. -- Hokey ..ihnp4!plus5!hokey 314-725-9492
beorn@vice.UUCP (Beorn Johnson) (07/20/84)
(I'd like to see a survey of cute first lines . . .)
>> [various observations on the net, and how NEW SOFTWARE would help]
For you netters out there with time to kill writing new netnews
software, here's an idea: Start a newsgroup and make it a team
effort. Bad idea you say? Too much confusion? Well perhaps a
little discipline could help some of you. You'll get all the
suggestions you need and more, and won't have the problem of working
on the same project that someone on the other side of the country is
working on also. I love the idea, but I don't have alot of time to
spend. I also don't know the net-system very well (I find
documentation VERY hard to come by), so I'm leaving this idea for
someone else to carry.
"Maybe tomorrow . . ." Beorn Johnson
Tektronix, Inc.
(...vice!beorn)
Soon (~September) to be "beorn@Berkeley"ksh@cbosgd.UUCP (Karen Summers-Horton) (07/20/84)
If there are people out there in netland who really want to write some new news software, please contact me. We do have an effort underway in conjunction with the UUCP mapping project, funded by the Usenix Association, so let's all please coordinate our efforts. We desperately need people, so if you can help write news software, please let me know. Karen Summers-Horton ihnp4!cbosgd!ksh
greggt@ncoast.UUCP (Gregg Thompson) (07/27/84)
There are MANY people that
deserves respect from everyone on the
net and Mark Horton is sure one of them!
What it seems to be boiling
down to is that all the new Usenet
users don't realize the expense and the
time and effort put into the Usenet
News software and the work to keep it
up. Maybe there should be a charge,
that way people would appreciate it
more.
If a system doesn't have the
proper management for usenet then
they shouldn't be on the net!
I would love to see a feature
added to the news software to have
all postings and followups be sent
to a checker (the news manager) before
they get sent out. That way
nobody should have to flame at someone
for posting an article to the wrong
group.
Comments please.
--
Gregg Thompson
{ucbvax}!decvax!cwruecmp!ncoast!greggt
{ucbvax}!decvax!cbosgd!aat!m-net!greggt
{ucbvax}!decvax!microsoft!trsvax!sneaky!greggt
{decvax}!ucbvax!dual!proper!greggt
{ucbvax}!decvax!vortex!ihnp4!wlcrjs!greggtbsafw@ncoast.UUCP (The WITNESS) (07/27/84)
Perhaps a subject-checker could be implemented: something to search
for key words/phrases and suggest a list of newsgroups (and allow only ONE to
be chosen from the set). Such as moving "Stonehenge" out of net.general!
(Where would it go?)
I would write it to use a changeable map file, with entries like:
wanted: net.wanted
looking for: "
68000: net.micro.68k
and so on. Case would be ignored in comparisons. (The " would be a short-
hand notation. An alternative to it might be blank newsgroup fields to use
the next newsgroup field in the file, like multiple labels in C.)
--
Brandon Allbery: decvax!cwruecmp{!atvax}!bsafw
6504 Chestnut Road, Independence, OH 44131
Witness, n. To watch and learn, joyously.julian@deepthot.UUCP (Julian Davies) (08/01/84)
Being a moderator is vastly time-consuming, and I would think very few
sites have someone willing to spend the time filtering the submissions
of all the local users. It's impractical. I think we have to live
with the inevitable fact that there will always be newer people on the
early part of the learning curve coming onto the net. Software can
help up to a point, the rest has to be courteous reminders/pointers
(by mail please!) to people who step over the bounds.
Julian Davies
{deepthot|uwo}!julian