wcs@ho95b.UUCP (01/31/84)
This is a comment on Mark Horton's diligent but largely unsuccessful attempts to get people to use net.general for the right things. The group is unfortunately misnamed. It can either be interpreted as: net.everybody-in-the-world, i.e. "general public", which is the official purpose of the group, -or- net.anything-in-general, which belongs in net.misc or more diverse places. The latter name probably better describe the origins of the group, and unfortunately is the place every novice posts their second or third message, before they know what's going on. (I did too, but that was several years ago.) I don't think the problem will go away without a great deal of cooperation (and a reasonable amount of coercion.) Either we continue in the same mode, trying to educate everyone, or we have to undertake the awful task of replacing ( *and deleting*) net.general. Net.announce shows some possibilities, but it's lightly used (or else houxf isn't getting it), and this pattern probably will continue unless some radical changes are made. I'm not proposing this lightly, because it's a major disruption in service, and will call for many administrator-hours of work. Here is my suggestion for a replacement structure: net.announce <- announcements to the world net.world <- unmoderated world-wide group for serious issues of general interest net.misc <- for randoms net.wanted <- requests for information as well as its current content. Should this perhaps be split into net.wanted and net.info? Thanks; Bill Stewart AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ {BTL}!hou2b!wcs ucbvax!ihnp4!hou2b!wcs decvax!harpo!hou2b!wcs