Path: utzoo!mnetor!geac!jtsv16!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!eos!eugene
From: eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Questions (flames about existence)
Keywords: big Brothers
Message-ID: <4603@eos.UUCP>
Date: 8 Aug 89 02:15:04 GMT
References: <1356@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Reply-To: eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Calif.
Lines: 30

I think there are several problems here.

1) there is a problem of educating new users.  There must be two basic ways
people are getting into news: a) start a news program and unsubscribe
(this takes lots of time, I'm just now rebuilding a newsrc from a crash).
b) start reading a few groups, adding as time goes one.  This latter is
hap-hazard.  Particularly dangerous because it creates semi-informed
users (worse than uninformed).

2) there is a problem of redundancy.  Witness we have two newusers
subgroups.  Questions in one are identical to Q/Answers in the other.
Some people aren't reading that group.  And I don't think they are all 1b).

The ultimate technical problem is the news interface.  Recently I've
had a chance to visit several sites (non-Unix: VM, VMS, etc.) running
all kinds of different software: just mail, Notesfiles, you name it,
some one has it reading news.  Until these interfaces are a bit more
consistent (many different capabilities), I don't see any hope of
improving the redundancy thru education.  You have some neat stuff here,
you just have to educate your people better, and you need better tools
to do that as well.

Another gross generalization from

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov
  resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:
  "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?"
  "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology."
  {ncar,decwrl,hplabs,uunet}!ames!eugene
  				Live free or die.