sdo@u1100a.UUCP (Scott Orshan) (06/27/84)
You can nuke all the newsgroups you want, but the junk will
still be there. The problem is the volume of trash - not which
dumpster to put it in. People seem to have a need to be heard.
The net provides a captive audience. The net needs to stay
manageable.
The needs of the net outweigh the needs of the few (or the one).
Instead of removing a place for the trash to go, and having the trash
go on the ground where we will all step in it, let me propose
a couple of rules to cut down on the trash.
1) Don't ask for information that you can obtain from a local
source such as a library. Examples are company addresses,
airline phone numbers, and any reference information
that can be found in a book or manual. Remember -
you will get as many wrong answers as right answers
from the net.
2) Don't post anything unless it requests or provides new
information. Don't post useless comments about someone
else's article. Saying "I agree" or "Send me a copy too"
is best done by mail. The net just can't support the
volume of this nonsense.
There are many other rules, but let's stick with these two.
I'm sure that all the self-appointed net police will reply
to violators. As for net.general - I suggest that someone
who has one of those automatic response generators send a message
to all posters which says:
"Even though you posted your article to net.general, and
sent it to the entire world, nobody read it because they
have all unsubscribed to net.general. If it is really of
importance to everybody, mail it to cbosgd!announce.
Otherwise, pick the proper newsgroups from the monthly list
that gets sent out."
--
Scott Orshan
Bell Communications Research
201-981-3064
{ihnp4,allegra,pyuxww}!u1100a!sdo