Xref: utzoo unix-pc.general:3279 comp.sys.att:6953
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-sdd!ncr-sd!rush!bob
From: bob@rush.cts.com (Bob Ames)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general,comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: Too much cross-posting?
Message-ID: <970@rush.cts.com>
Date: 11 Jul 89 17:53:10 GMT
References: <674@whizz.uucp> <240@gnosys.UUCP> <1989Jul7.052540.7258@eci386.uucp> <20239@cup.portal.com> <694@whizz.uucp>
Reply-To: bob@rush.cts.com (Bob Ames)
Organization: NORML, Escondido Branch
Lines: 43

In article <694@whizz.uucp> bbh@whizz.UUCP (Bud Hovell) writes:
>>*MY* suggestion is that ALL unix-pc.* material be cross-posted to comp.sys.att
>>and for people to fix their brain-damaged mail readers.  Worst case is for
>
>Yes - 'rn' seems to have a problem here. The site name appears in the Xrefs
>line, but still doesn't mark cross-postings as read. Any gurus out there who
>can suggest how to address this condition are invited to do so. We hope to 
>get after this problem again in a few days - we have a busted floppy-drive
>(last repaired just 3 months ago!), so will be off the air to get it fixed.

Why don`t I have a probelm with this?  I never read something twice.  I will
admit that one single article which is cross-posted will show up as something
like "1 article in unix-pc.general, 1 article in comp.sys.att" but when I go
to read them, I *never* see it twice.  Is the current problem just that you`re
bothered by being told that you`ve got one more article that you should be?

>I fail to grasp the logic that says that if only 15% of the people who want to
>read the group can actually do so, that the obvious remedy is to cross-post
>everything to another group that everyone *can* read. Aircraft systems and
>governments rely on 100% redundancy. But newsgroups? If one group captures
>100% (best case) of what is carried in the other - why have both? Why does 
>the second group exist apart from the first? That is, AT ALL? Just get rid 
>of the one group and post everything to the other.

I don`t know... there could be *some* justification for keeping both.
For example, I could read unix-pc.general and even though 100% of this
group were cross-posted to comp.sys.att, I would only be reading unix-pc
related material.  Once the unix-pc.all is done, I then switch to c.s.a.
Only after finishing the unix-pc groups must I read c.s.a, which is not
guaranteed to contain exclusively unix-pc data.  Guess what, this is
*exactly* what happens *right now*

>[...] And, dammit, I want to know when I get my Magic Decoder Ring! It should
>have arrived by now, shouldn't it? Or do I have to call the Hotline?

Yea, you have to send in your registration card and AT&T will send you
your Personal Calendar program along with your Magic Decoder Ring!  |-)

Bob Ames   The National Organization for  the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NORML 
"Pot is the world's best source of complete protein, alcohol fuel, and paper,
is the best fire de-erosion seed, and is america's largest cash crop." - USDA
bob@rush.cts.com or ncr-sd!rush!bob@nosc.mil  or rutgers!ucsd!ncr-sd!rush!bob
619-741-UN2X "We each pay a fabulous price for our visions of paradise," Rush