control@almsa-1 (William Martin) (07/18/85)
Sent the following (via ARPA mail) to the Info-Unix discussion list, from whence it will eventually make it into net.unix. Thought it might be worthy of exposure over here in net.news.group, too: I haven't seen any later follow-ups or comments to Mr. List's posting about posting to both net.unix and net.unix-wizards, or the ARPA equivalents of Info-Unix and Unix-Wizards. However, I, too, have noticed this phenomenon, and thought it was worth some comment/discussion. I base my interpretation of the distinction between the two lists on a description of Info-Unix that was circulated when the ARPA gateway of net.unix first was established. As I recall it, essentially the difference is that net.unix/Info-Unix is for beginners, elementary questions, simple problems, etc. Unix-Wizards, on the other hand, is *only* for people who are experienced in Unix internals and technical details. Because of this, I have always read Info-Unix/net.unix, and never read Unix-Wizards. I am no wizard -- I barely know enough Unix to do what I need to do, and my questions are basic and low-level. Because this distinction has always existed, I have never seen much rationale for cross-posting to both groups. If a question or comment is technically advanced enough to be worthy of Unix-Wizards, it will be incomprehensible to the readership of Info-Unix/net.unix, except for those that read both (either for amusement or to offer aid and advice to those of us who are not as knowledgeable). If, on the other hand, the comment is on the Info-Unix/net.unix level, it is boring and trivial to the real wizards on Unix-Wizards. Concomitant with this distinction, there should be a somewhat different attitude toward participants. In Info-Unix/net.unix, toleration and understanding, and a helpful attitude towards the neophyte, should be the order of the day. On Unix-Wizards, though, all bets are off. This is the "big boys'" playground, and showing ignorance or making mistakes here will subject the hapless participant to flames and abuse. This seems reasonable, considering the clear identification of "wizardry" in the group name. There probably should be an exception made for some topics that *do* deserve cross-posting. What comes to mind immediately are rewarding and worthwhile things like the recent collection and summary of comments on the AT&T 3B hardware. Perhaps others can better define what should be posted to both lists/groups? I don't know if there is a good way to clearly define the dividing line between these groups. One could say something like "device drivers, kernel internals, and other advanced topics" belong in Unix-Wizards, while "Unix history, interpreting ambiguous manual statements, and user-level software issues, etc." belong on Info-Unix/net.unix. However, this is pretty fuzzy, and even I can pick holes in these examples fairly easily. I think it might be more in the nature of a subjective judgement. Comments leading to a good working definition of the two areas would be welcomed. [If anyone wants to post or forward this to Unix-Wizards to enlarge the scope of the discussion, please do. I'm not going to post there; I know my place! :-)] Regards, Will Martin ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA UUCP/Usenet: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin
heiby@cuae2.UUCP (Ron Heiby) (07/23/85)
Will, the proper place for postings on technical issues related to the Unix Operating System is mod.unix. Both net.unix and net.unix-wizards have become far too over-loaded with repetitious repition [:-)] to be of any real use. For a high signal to noise ratio, mod.unix is the place for both novice and wizard oriented postings. Submissions to mod.unix should be sent to unix@cbosgd.UUCP. Communication with the moderator (me) should be sent to unix-request@cbosgd.UUCP. -- Ron Heiby heiby@cuae2.UUCP (via ihnp4) AT&T-IS, /app/eng, Lisle, IL (312) 810-6109
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (07/25/85)
In article <379@cuae2.UUCP> heiby@cuae2.UUCP (Ron Heiby) writes: >Will, the proper place for postings on technical issues related to the >Unix Operating System is mod.unix. To which ARPA group is "mod.unix" gatewayed? Info-Unix or Unix-Wizards? I only read this from the ARPA side, as I can funnel it through other accounts, providing a measure of sorting, and dump it to print. So my attitude and comments are based on viewing it from that side. Will
heiby@cuae2.UUCP (Ron Heiby) (07/31/85)
In article <150@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-bmd.UUCP writes: >To which ARPA group is "mod.unix" gatewayed? Info-Unix or Unix-Wizards? Will, unfortunately there is no gatewaying of mod.unix that I know of. I have suggested it before, but it seems that those who run the gateways have not decided that it is needed. -- Ron Heiby heiby@cuae2.UUCP (via ihnp4) AT&T-IS, /app/eng, Lisle, IL (312) 810-6109