chip@t4test.UUCP (06/09/84)
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From: emjej@uokvax.UUCP
/***** uokvax:net.followup / cbosgd!mark / 3:36 pm May 29, 1984 */
I'd like to remind people that followups to net.general should go
into net.followup, not net.general. readnews and vnews automatically
do this for you, I don't know what's needed to make notesfiles do the
right thing.
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Sigh. Why should notes be required to brain-damage itself to make up for
the inadequacy of netnews?
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Please excuse me if I rant a little heavily, but I am getting somewhat
tired of this term "brain damaged" which gets thrown around the
network quite a bit. Yes, it is quite a vivid phrase. Unfortunately,
most of the time it is used it is used in lieu of substance for an
argument, i.e. I prefer X because Y is brain damaged. Somehow I find
it hard to justify transmitting such sophmoric statements all around
the world.
Ok, why should notes make up for the possibly unsatisfactory and
certainly arbitrary structure of the network. Because, folks, a
convention has been established. Your participation is an implicit
buy-in to this convention. When people start pulling in twenty
different directions, the very tenuous fabric of this network will fall
apart. I think we all have a responsibility to do two things: work
within the confines of the current network protocol, and improve this
protocol (and associated software) in an organized manner to meet
additional needs. (Jeez! I feel like a high school civics teacher.)
(I think I'll hack postnews to reject any article which contains
the phrase "brain damaged" within. Ooops! That would kill of
this one--wouldn't it...)
--
Chip Rosenthal, Intel/Santa Clara
{idi|intelca|icalqa|imcgpe|kremvax|qubix|ucscc}!t4test!{chip|news}