cca@pur-phy.UUCP (Charles C. Allen) (06/17/84)
A common complaint heard on the net is that mispostings are often the result of the site administrators failing to get the right information to the users. "Gosh, I wish this guy had read the netiquette article and the list of active newsgroups!" Relying on the systems people is wishful thinking. Good grief, we don't even have a full time systems person here. We're lucky to have access to the net at all. The information should be available from within the news user interface. Keep a description of each newsgroup in the directory (or wherever, I'm not familiar with the software). The poor, ignorant user should be able to just hit a key and see what articles in the newsgroup are SUPPOSED to be about. An article on using the net could be available also. Charlie Allen UUCP: pur-ee!Physics:cca, purdue!Physics:cca INTERNET: cca @ pur-phy.UUCP
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (06/21/84)
How hard do we have to try?... >A common complaint heard on the net is that mispostings are often the result >of the site administrators failing to get the right information to the >users. "Gosh, I wish this guy had read the netiquette article and the list >of active newsgroups!" IF your news system was set up right, it seems to me that it ought to be hard for a user to get started WITHOUT at least seeing the netiquette article. >Relying on the systems people is wishful thinking. Good grief, we don't >even have a full time systems person here. We're lucky to have access to >the net at all. To me, this sounds a bit like, "Good grief, I barely had the time and money to get a car; do you really expect me to take the time to learn to drive?" I don't really want to be harsh, but diving into the net (and I mean posting, not just reading) without learning how to get along with the rest of the crowd is bound to create problems. SOMEbody put up the news software at your site; that person ought to be able to take a little time to help others get started. OK, you may not have someone paid to do it - so what? Very few sites do. This whole business of the net is basically volunteer work. >The information should be available from within the news user interface. That's a good idea, and I'd like to see it. But I still don't think it's a substitute for users knowing what they're doing before they try to do it. -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Cerebus for dictator!