rusty@sri-unix (12/06/82)
From: rusty (Rusty Wright) you forgot another alternative: let these people create these short term newsgroups that will die out after a while and have the netnews software automatically remove the spool directory, . files, remove it from the active file, remove the entry for it from the .newsrc files, and fix/remove any other files for that newsgroup, after that newsgroup hasn't had a submission for a "long time".
stevenm (12/07/82)
I have recieved about 22 (love that number!) replies to my complaint about the proliferation of special-purpose newsgroups. I am going to wait until the weekend for more replies, then post the results to the net (on net.news). S. McGeady
smb (12/07/82)
Let me make a suggestion to anyone who wishes to propose a new newsgroup: you should state clearly and explicitly what you expect to be discussed in it. If you have only one or two discussions in mind, don't bother -- it will die out fairly soon, and just clutter up /usr/spool/news. One example of a group that should never have been created is net.wobegon (to which I've contributed, incidentally); there simply isn't enough material to *sustain* usage. --Steve Bellovin unc!smb (but not for much longer)
bstempleton (12/13/82)
The answer is not to delete groups but to change the news software to allow an unlimited number of groups to exist easily. Looks like Plato did it from the stats we were given. I think it can be done with a keyword based system.