perelgut@utcsrgv.UUCP (Stephen Perelgut) (08/09/83)
Is there any way to convince net readers that: Everyone sees net.general so posting to net.general,net.whatever is redundant 10,000 readers see net.general articles so only post things that are of interest to everyone. Or general announcements. Otherwise there are specific groups to fit almost every topic and there is always net.misc What is the best way to convince people to use net.general properly? I liked the idea that everyone post a note to the offender, but when I tried this I got abuse. And the poster just kept on posting trivialities to net.general. Any new ideas? -- --- Stephen Perelgut --- {decvax!utzoo,linus}!utcsrgv!perelgut {cornell,watmath,floyd,allegra,uw-beaver,ubc-vision,ihnp4}!utcsrgv!perelgut
whm@arizona.UUCP (08/14/83)
I think that the basic problem is: unless something changes, newcomers to the net are always going to be posting inappropriate articles to net.general. A more general rule is: inappropriate articles are going to be posted no matter what actions are taken. It may be possible to reduce the number of bogus articles, but there will always be some. The ultimate solution is to moderate groups in which the number of bogons becomes intolerable. However, the specific offense which seems to get people up in arms is an inappropriate posting to net.general. Many people have demonstrated an ability to point out inappropriate articles in net.general (and other groups), but the question that sticks in my mind is: What is an appropriate article for net.general? I can't really think of an article that *everybody* should read. What I'm getting at is that the idea of net.general being very special in some sense is ludicrous. Most every article in net.general would be better off in some specific group and lots of the articles would be better off not being posted in the first place. I think that this idea that net.general should be read by everyone is at fault. I don't think that there are many people out there who, of their own free will, read just net.general. You've got people that read a handful of groups, and net.general is among them, but this idea that net.general should be composed of articles that are "good" for everyone, is simply untenable. I suggest that net.announce be put into operation as soon as possible and the current ideas about net.general be rethought. The only purpose that I've seen net.general serve of late is to provide grounds for floggings of hapless souls who have posted an inappropriate article. If you disagree with me and think that are many articles that would be best posted to net.general (with the premise that everyone should read net.general), let me know. Send me a minimum of three (3) topics you would consider suitable for a net.general article. If possible, I'll summarize and post any interesting findings to net.news. Also, if you have any suggestions as to what net.general should be composed of (defined as?), I'd be interested in that as well. FYI-The active newsgroup list last posted in net.news.group says: "net.general General queries, requests, announcements, etc." Bill Mitchell whm.arizona@rand-relay {ihnp4,kpno,mcnc,utah-cs}!arizona!whm