heiby@falkor.UUCP (Ron Heiby) (03/09/89)
Jeff Boeing (abcscagz@csuna.csun.edu) writes: > (1) Delay time. One lousy disk crash -- which was certainly not Rahul's > fault -- caused the entire backlog of binaries to be set back several > weeks. Right. It was unfortunate. But, what did it *really* hurt. Some neat programs arrived a few weeks later than they otherwise would have. Big deal. > (2) Moderator preference. Right. It would be nice to get an occasional game. But, if the moderator has machine problems or extra heavy demands from his/her *REAL JOB*, then I would much rather get half a dozen small utilities than half a moria. If there's someone filling in while a moderator is on vacation, I think it's perfectly acceptable for him/her to delay posting games. Some neat games arrived a few weeks later than they otherwise would have. Big deal. > The moderated newsgroup is still a good idea, but I ask you, fellow netters, > should binaries postings be restricted to the moderated group ONLY? An > unmoderated forum (such as this one) seems to me like a good place to vent > those binaries that didn't make it (or are delayed up the wazoo) to c.b.i.p. Yes, binary postings should continue to be restricted to the moderated group ONLY. That way, they have a chance at getting archived. That way, sites can expire them after only (e.g.) three days, while leaving the discussion around for (e.g.) two weeks. I can't think of a single posting to comp.binaries.ibm.pc that would have caused irreparable harm by having been delayed a couple of weeks. Can you? Keep the binaries in the binaries group and the discussion in the discussion group! -- Ron Heiby, heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us Moderator: comp.newprod "Life is indeed an inexplicable sequence of imponderable surprises."
jkg@gatech.edu (Jim Greenlee) (03/11/89)
This may be interpreted as a flame by some. Maybe it is. >> is Jeff Boeing (abcscagz@csuna.csun.edu) > is Ron Heiby (heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us) everything else is me (jkg@gatech.edu) >> (1) Delay time. One lousy disk crash -- which was certainly not Rahul's >> fault -- caused the entire backlog of binaries to be set back several >> weeks. >Right. It was unfortunate. But, what did it *really* hurt. Some neat >programs arrived a few weeks later than they otherwise would have. >Big deal. I agree with Ron 100%. I can't understand the attitude of some of the readers of the PC-binary group - whenever there is a lull in postings, people start screaming for the moderator's head on a platter. USENET is not, and never has been, a homogeneous medium. An interruption in postings can happen for any of a number of reasons (I'd wager that hardware failure is among the *least* likely reasons). >> (2) Moderator preference. >Right. It would be nice to get an occasional game. But, if the moderator >has machine problems or extra heavy demands from his/her *REAL JOB*, then >I would much rather get half a dozen small utilities than half a moria. >If there's someone filling in while a moderator is on vacation, I think >it's perfectly acceptable for him/her to delay posting games. Some neat >games arrived a few weeks later than they otherwise would have. >Big deal. Well-said. A lot of people don't realize that moderating a group like this takes a *lot* of time. I know of no moderator that gets compensated directly for his or her time - most of them just get abused by the very people that they are trying to do Good Things for (Brad Templeton is an excellent example). Frankly, I don't read comp.binaries to get games. Oh sure, i snarf them when they float by, but I would not be the least bit upset if the moderator elected not to post them at all. I am mainly interested in utilities that help me be more productive in cross-pollinated (MSDOS/UNIX) environment (admittedly, since I bought the MKS Toolkit a couple of years ago, this is less of a problem :-). >> The moderated newsgroup is still a good idea, but I ask you, fellow netters, >> should binaries postings be restricted to the moderated group ONLY? An >> unmoderated forum (such as this one) seems to me like a good place to vent >> those binaries that didn't make it (or are delayed up the wazoo) to c.b.i.p. No, this is the *worst* possible thing that could be done. A moderator is, in many respects, the moral equivalent of a benevolent dictator. While a moderator *does* exert some level of control that impedes the free and unencumbered sharing of information (I've obviously been reading too many "spirit of USENET" postings in news.groups :-), in most cases it is not only desirable, but absolutely necessary. Anybody who remembers the MEAN18 and PSPICE debacles last year (when c.b.i.p. was unmoderated) should realize that this group *must* be moderated if it is going to continue to survive (imminent death of the net predicted). Anybody who doubts this should send me e-mail - I will tell you the true (I know the principals personally) account of how comp.binaries.ibm.pc was almost yanked from the net last year. >Yes, binary postings should continue to be restricted to the moderated >group ONLY. [...] I can't think of a single posting >to comp.binaries.ibm.pc that would have caused irreparable harm by having >been delayed a couple of weeks. Can you? No, I can't. The thing that irks me is that soon as people find out that a particular utility exists, they have to have it *right* *then*. Never mind that they have gotten by quite nicely for the last 3 or 4 years without it - the mere knowledge of the utility's existence makes it an absolute necessity. Some people almost seem to *demand* that it be delivered to their door, yet they are not willing to expend any energy or time to get it there - It's almost as though they are saying, "This piece of software is so important to me that I insist that everybody drop everything and use every available resource (as long as I don't have to pay for it) to get it to me." This is arrogance in the extreme. If you simply cannot live without it, why not send a blank (formatted!) diskette and a postage-paid mailer to the author? If you are not willing to do this, then you have no right to complain about a perceived slowdown in net traffic. >Keep the binaries in the binaries group and the discussion in the >discussion group! Amen. Jim Greenlee -- Jim Greenlee - Instructor, School of ICS, Georgia Tech jkg@gatech.edu Jryy, abj lbh'ir tbar naq qbar vg! Whfg unq gb xrrc svqqyvat jvgu vg hagvy lbh oebxr vg, qvqa'g lbh?!