karl_kleinpaste@cis.ohio-state.edu (11/29/90)
Recently, there has been some discussion and complaint regarding the
way the GNU mailing lists are gatewayed with Usenet newsgroups. The
particular point in question is the one-way gateway from mailing list
help-g++@prep.ai.mit.edu which crossposts to both comp.lang.c++ and
gnu.help.g++, with a default Followup-To: aimed at gnu.help.g++ only.
The reason for the complaints has to do with an inherent inconsistency
in how Usenet followups -vs- mailed replies are handled. Example:
[a] RMS writes to help-g++
[b] it gets to OSU, gateways as comp.lang.c++ & gnu.g++.help,
with a Followup-To: gnu.g++.help only
[c] Joe Random follows up to gnu.g++.help, which gateways back
as mail, which RMS receives
[d] RMS replies to Joe and help-g++, which goes back out to
OSU...
People who only read (or only get) comp.lang.c++ see a one-sided
discussion, since only the items originating from the mailing list
naturally make it to comp.lang.c++.
Also, there has been some question over the appropriateness of
frequent political stuff happening in comp.lang.c++ which originates
from help-g++.
A couple of pre-answered questions:
[1] Q: Why not have followups go to both groups?
A: Causing that behavior will require special hacking on both
inews and nrecnews for a rather peculiar special function --
I'm not especially psyched, thanx just the same.
[2] Q: Is the help-gnu-emacs <=> comp.emacs & gnu.emacs.help gate also
in question?
A: No -- no one has mentioned it to us yet, anyway. Just help-g++.
[3] Q: How about the info-{g++,gnu-emacs} gateways?
A: They also gate double-one-way, but their traffic is so low,
as well as being moderated on the GNU side, that they will be
continued that way regardless.
As for the gateway having been set up this way in the first place,
that was as agreed to by the comp.lang.c++ readership in response to a
poll conducted by Len Tower <tower@prep.ai.mit.edu> in March 1988;
results of that poll were 77:6 in favor of the one-way gate.
So the question before everyone is:
Shall the gateway be dropped? If so, then help-g++ will continue to
be a more typical gateway with gnu.help.g++ only.
Yes == drop the double gate.
No == continue the current arrangement.
I'll collect responses for a week or two. Comments welcome, along
with your yes/no. Len, RMS, and I will probably argue over the
results until the end of December or so.
NOTE!
[a] Followup-To: poster. That means SEND PRIVATE MAIL, DON'T POST.
[b] Preserve the Subject:! It is necessary in order to cause poll
responses to go to the right mailbox -- I don't want this stuff
mixed in with my general mail.
--karl