rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (02/25/84)
Response to my earlier proposal of creating net.micro.hp41 has been somewhat greater than I anticipated, although not a landslide, by any means. Nineteen different people have responded so far, either by mail or this newsgroup. None of the responses were actually unfavorable, and many were more enthusiastic than my original proposal itself. More than one person suggested that the group should be called net.micro.hp rather than hp41, and for a variety of reasons. While I initially resisted this, I am now inclined to agree. It surely won't hurt to make the name a bit more general by going by manufacturer rather than model. This same approach should've been taken with the other net.micro subgroups, too. As far as criteria for creating a newsgroup, I find I differ in opinion with several other netters. I don't believe these messages were in fact directed at the proposed newsgroup, but rather all newsgroups. Some seem to feel that the NEED for a new group first be demonstrated by excessive volume on another newsgroup. I cannot agree with this. Firstly, I would not post an article about synthetic programming on the HP-41 to any existing newsgroup simply because it would be inappropriate. There is no group which has a scope that includes such a topic. (Forget net.micro, it's already too overloaded.) Others may be doing the same with regard to a variety of topics. If the forum is lacking, articles don't get posted. At least, that's what happens when we follow USENET etiquette. Secondly, existence of a newsgroup tends to generate interest in the topic covered by that newsgroup. Discussions are stimulated, gather momentum, and snowball until the wombats take over. Finally, such a newsgroup is going to be needed sooner or later, most likely within a few months. HP has entered the micro market in a pretty big way and I cannot imagine that such a newsgroup would go unused for very long. Taking all this into consideration, I have decided that, unless I receive strong opinions to the contrary by early March, I will take positive steps to create "net.micro.hp". I anticipate that early discussion will be dominated by queries on synthetic programming. A question I had concerned a bulletin board or distribution list on the ARPA net and possibilities of a gateway. I received notice from someone at MIT-MC (?) that an HP-41 list existed on ARPA net already. Does someone out there know what is involved in all this and its implications? Thanks for the help. -- Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe AT&T Bell Laboratories (312) 979-6537