Too much cross-posting?

Robert J. Granvin rjg at sialis.mn.org
Sun Jul 9 02:06:29 AEST 1989


[And yes, I see that that the followup-to is set to unix-pc.general,
which I will not circumvent, even though I think this is a topic that
really DOES merit the views of the comp.sys.att readers as well.
Bleah.]

>I don't see how wider distribution of unix-pc stuff will help, when
>most of those who are interested already get the unix-pc groups, and
>those who don't should.

I'm not sure this is a valid statement.  It's too basic.  For years,
I've seen a lot of "I don't get unix-pc.*" _along_with_ "I CAN'T get
unix-pc.*".  Those that don't get it can get it if they knew how.
Maybe.  It's not a clean cut one way or another type of situation.

>with a real mess of stuff which most comp.sys.att only readers don't
>want to see.  (I read both groups!)  Cross-posting *_IS_* inherently
>bad when it clutters up other groups.  That's why we have groups in
>the first place.

And unix-pc.*, not carried in the main stream news groups, isn't
solving the problem apparently.

>Perhaps unix-pc.general should be renamed comp.sys.att.unix-pc, but
>remain on the "alternate newsgroups" list.  This might help prevent
>some of the useless clutter.

Crossposting would still likely occur, but at least some of it would
move to comp.sys.att.unix-pc.  Of course, we should all realize that
not all of it would...

>PLEASE do not cross-post Unix PC related articles to comp.sys.att!

Sigh.  This continual perennial argument, as well as the crossposting
that always inspires it, will continue until the end of time until
somehow it is solved.

It's not at all fair to ask "don't crosspost UnixPC articles" when so
many people, for whatever reason (in or out of their control) can't
get unix-pc.*

Neither is it "efficient" to post everything to both realms.

So, what's the solution?  Everyone just quiet down and accept reality,
or create a unix-pc off of comp.sys.att to satisfy those that just
don't care (Which I also think is unfortunate, because the information
provided by and to UnixPC owners/users is also of value to the
"others".  (UnixPC people are not lepers, either.))

When it comes to software, many of the issues are of global nature.
When it comes to hardware, that's a different issue, but that also
applies to 3b2, 6386, 3b15 ... (ad infinitum).  One hopes those issues
could be considered at posting time...

-- 
________Robert J. Granvin________        INTERNET: rjg at sialis.mn.org
____National Computer Systems____          BITNET: rjg%sialis.mn.org at cs.umn.edu
__National Information Services__            UUCP: ...amdahl!bungia!sialis!rjg
 "I'll just go bang my head on a wall & figure out why I abuse myself so much"



More information about the Unix-pc.general mailing list