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
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