[net.news] It really is time to rmgroup net.test

bstempleton (04/03/83)

In all my years on the net, I have never seen a valid use of net.test, so
I assume there have not been more than two or three.  Why do we keep this
group around?  There are getting to be a dozen messages a day, and it's
costing somebody a lot of money.   Many people don't realize that "net.test"
means test the net, and they mistake it for their own local test group.

This is mainly because the current system links distribution codes in with
newsgroup names, which is a bit silly if you ask me.

Let's rmgroup net.test!!!!!!!!

sob (04/03/83)

KEEP NET.TEST !!!

if you do not want to read it unsubscribe. it is quite usefull in setting
up links ( it tests more than the to... groups, i had one case when
to... worked but net.all did not and used net.test to debug it)

              scott bradner
              harvard university
              ...decvax!genrad!wjh12!sob

pn (04/04/83)

I LIKE to read net.test. It's better than net.jokes, sometimes. I suspect
the cost of it is about .1% of the total cost of USENET, or less.

mark (04/04/83)

Might I suggest that site administrators put up a recording
for net.test?  Something like this:

(in /usr/lib/news/recording)
	net.test	/usr/lib/news/net.test
(in /usr/lib/news/net.test)
	Please don't post to net.test unless there is no alternative.
	You can use the local group "test", or if you want to test
	a network connection, use "to.foo" where "foo" is one of
	your Usenet neighbors.  If that isn't sufficient, use "here.test"
	where "here" is something more local than "net".

Getting rid of net.test is not going to do any good.  The test
messages will continue, just in other newsgroups that don't want
them.  And I'm willing to bet that the cost to transmit and store
net.test articles is almost nothing.

furuta (04/04/83)

Well, I hate to say it again, but it seems to me that most of the
traffic on net.test is actually generated by site administrators rather
than by other people.  A warning message won't be of much use when the
people you want to warn are the ones making and ignoring the statement!
A note in the Usenet installation manual might be more effective.