spaf@gatech.CSNET (Gene Spafford) (08/27/85)
(This is a followup to an article appearing in net.announce by
Adam Beslove.)
So there is claimed to be a net.culture.jewish, is there? Fascinating!
That also implies the existence of a "net.culture" group -- even more
fascinating! When did this happen how did I miss the discussion?
By way of review, the current procedure for starting a new group is
(in order):
1) Establish a need via current postings in some other group(s);
2) Propose the new group in net.news.group;
3) Discuss the new group, and if the discussion is favorable and
no clear objections raised, then conduct a poll;
4) If the poll is in favor, create the group.
To my knowledge, this standard procedure was not followed.
Correct me if I am wrong.
(1) could be claimed by some of the users of the current
net.religion.jewish group. I don't read that group, so I don't know if
it, in fact, generates enough volume of articles on strictly
non-religious matters so as to justify a separate newsgroup. I have
been told (via mail) that the majority of such articles are the product
of just a few people and it is questionable how many others read that
material. If such is actually the case, it suggests a need for
(perhaps) a mailing list, not a new newsgroup.
(2) and (3) may have been done a few months ago. However, I seem to
remember that the issue was never resolved one way or another, that
only a few people wanted the new group and there were others against
the formation of such a group. My memory may be imperfect on this
matter, but I do remember it being a while ago, and since the group was
not created at that time, it suggests to me that the issue was never
resolved clearly in favor of such a group.
(4) was not done, to my knowledge or that of anyone else I have
contacted about this.
Furthermore, the implicit creation of "net.culture" without any
discussion is also against the "rules".
I don't want to sound like (ahem) a net facist, but I'm not going
to be honoring any such newgroup messages until I'm convinced
that the procedure has been followed. If I missed something,
send me a note and point me to the information (abuse will go
directly to the bit bucket and ignored). In the meantime, I will
not enter net.culture* into the list of active newsgroups.
So far, we've had at least 4 groups created in the last few months by
people not bothering to honor proper procedure. We have to develop a
more global view, folks. The net now has over 1200 sites around the
world with tens of thousands of users. TENS OF THOUSANDS. Creating a
newsgroup because 10 or 15 (or 1 or 2) people think it is a good idea
is STUPID. We all need to step back and look at the net and ask what
we're trying to do with it. Burying it under hundreds of newsgroups
with only 10 readers apiece, or saturating it with stupidity (ala
net.bizarre and net.flame) is not going to help keep the net
functioning, I fear. But that's a different topic.
--
Gene "4 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
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