wombat@uicsl.UUCP (03/06/84)
#R:oliveb:-29500:uicsl:8200006:000:1289 uicsl!wombat Mar 5 14:39:00 1984 oliveb!toml is assuming that everyone is agreed on changing the structure of the net when it just ain't true. I think it would cause far more problems than it might solve, for the simple reasons that many sites aren't running current software, many managers haven't the slightest idea what the net is, and therefore aren't that interested in "keeping up with the Joneses, and all of the "well, you should either upgrade or drop out" 's in the world aren't going to change it. I don't believe the manager here has ever read a single article (except for those I forward through mail to her) and I doubt she could careless whether we stay attached, though several of our users (especially in AI) might well be affected. Also, the new 4.2BSD distribution has a version of notes in it, as well as some version of news. It seems to me it would be a lot easier to include an upgrade with distribution fields, bells, and whistles in a new UNIX release than separately. Anybody who doesn't like things the way they currently are should start working on all the fixes they want and try to get them into the next major software release, and then asking the stragglers who aren't upgrading their OS to at least upgrade their news/notes(/uucp?) software. Wombat ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat
toml@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long) (03/07/84)
[Jul ner lbh ernqvat guvf?]
Here are some ideas I have thought of to help smooth the transition when
we change the netnews group structure.
@ Decide well in advance what the new->old newsgroup mappings are going
to be.
@ Have a 'tumbolia' newsgroup, for holding articles that are mailed to
an old newsgroup, plus a couple of simple awk(1) scripts for switching them
to the new ones.
@ Post a complete list of new->old newsgroup mappings to net.announce.
It might be advisable to put them in the help-files for a while.
@ Don't create and delete all of the old and new newsgroups all at once.
Create the equivalent of the high-traffic newsgroups first, and place plenty
of pointers in their old counterparts. Then start doing the same thing to
the rest of the groups, so the low-traffic newsgroups get a week or so in
the middle of the transition period, while the larger newsgroups overlap for
a period of time, while discussions in them are moved.
For those of you who don't see why we should change the newsgroup structure,
see my article in net.flame. If you still don't agree, then send me flames.
I will reply if I can.
--
Dave Long
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