Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!ncar!ames!amelia!magellan.arc.nasa.gov!chguest
From: chguest@magellan.arc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Guest)
Newsgroups: ba.news.group,news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Instant garbage: news.newusers.questions
Message-ID: <2717@amelia.nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 3 Aug 89 23:01:36 GMT
References: <79379@pyramid.pyramid.com> <48zh022L458h01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> <3482@epimass.EPI.COM> <45863@oliveb.olivetti.com> <4548@eos.UUCP>
Sender: news@amelia.nas.nasa.gov
Reply-To: chguest@magellan.arc.nasa.gov.UUCP (Charles J. Guest)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.
Lines: 61


In article <4548@eos.UUCP> eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) writes:
=>I personally side with Gordon on this one despite Charles Guest's post
=>of the vote tabulation.  The reason is that the information I've seen
=>thus far posted has been frequently incorrect, half true, over-simplified.

The problem with this argument is that if we nuked every group that had
a high percentage of incorrect, half-true, or oversimplified
information we would end up rmgrouping almost every newsgroup on the
net.

=>The issue isn't elitism, it's burn out.

Those who are going to burn out on it can always 'change the channel'.
[read 'u']

=>The problem is that we can't ignore these new users, they will only cause
=>further problems down the line.  You only need look at general,

Agreed.  Many systems do not have a newsadmin.  The news utilities on
these systems were set up by a sysadmin who had little or no intrest in
the net and was only doing so to make his people happy.  The man pages
are not enough and there is almost noplace to get further documentation
or to get simple questions answered.

Instead of rmgrouping this newsgroup we need to come up with a 'guidance
article' to be posted every few weeks (days:-) that explains what the
group is about and asks users to (among other things):

	Read *ALL* articles first before asking a question or replying
	  to one.

	Reply to *ALL* basic questions using e-mail and not by a reply
	  postings to the newsgroup.

	Encourage users with similar questions to e-mail the poster
	  that originally sent the question to the net requesting him
	  to mail them a summary of the answers. (admittedly hard to
	  implement - but it would relieve some of the traffic.)

	Set up a 'frequently asked questions' packet or article that
	  could be sent to users requesting it or posted to the n.n.q
	  group on a scheduled basssis.

	Encourage newusers to wait for a while to see if their question
	  gets answered before they post.

	
	The news.newusers.questions newsgroup also should, (and is to an
extent), be(ing) used by not so new users to ask more in depth questions
relating to the net and the news utilities.  Just because questions as
basic as "How do I post my signature?" are asked does not mean that the
group can't be usefull for more complicated questions by old hands.

	In the words of another poster: Cut the thing a chance !!

========================================================================
+ *READ* ---> The opinions expressed above are to the best of my knowledge, +
+ however all options should be discussed with persons who have professional+
+ training with the subjects covered here. * ALL POSSIBLE DISCLAIMERS APPLY!+
+___FROM: chguest@magellan.arc.nasa.gov =>or<= sun!ames!magellan!chguest____+