Xref: utzoo news.admin:7771 news.groups:14991 comp.os.vms:19939 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!coolidge From: coolidge@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu (John Coolidge) Newsgroups: news.admin,news.groups,comp.os.vms Subject: Re: New newsgroup hierarchy Summary: :-) Message-ID: <1989Nov24.072732.5206@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 24 Nov 89 07:27:32 GMT References: <1618.25614348@mccall.uucp> <1989Nov16.172110.21492@utzoo.uucp> <1989Nov20.005435.14063@wolves.uucp> <1989Nov23.185950.3723@utzoo.uucp> Sender: news@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu Reply-To: coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu Organization: U of Illinois, CS Dept., Systems Research Group Lines: 47 henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1989Nov20.005435.14063@wolves.uucp> ggw@wolves.UUCP (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes: >> Henry, please elaborate on your contention that there are >>"too many top-level names already"... >Have you seen an "all groups" sys-file line lately? The days are long >past when it would fit in 80 columns. Hmm --- I don't know about this. From brutus' sys file: ># If someone sends it, I'll take it... >ME:all,to.brutus,!to:: That, to me, is a true "all groups" sys-file line. Well, not really --- it does delete my outgoing to groups --- but that's not really a loss. I could say 'ME:all::' and _really_ take everything (perhaps I'll go do that). Note: I do this by choice, because I want everything. If you don't, putting all in your sys file is a dumb idea. Make sure you mean it. But, if you do, it's possible to fit "all groups" in 8 columns... >We didn't do it for MSDOS or the Amiga or any of the other operating >systems, and this somehow hasn't caused any major problems, even though >the groups concerned with those systems are among the busiest on Usenet. >Why on Earth should we do it for VMS? Because, as several others have pointed out, VMSNET is _not just_ a set of groups about VMS. It's also --- and this is very important --- a hierarchy controlled by DECUS' VMSNET group. This means it will _never_ be a part of the Usenet, in that it won't have the Usenet style, won't follow Usenet voting conventions, won't necessarily uphold the "no commercial speech" rules, etc. IMHO, if a group's name is to be in the "big seven", it _must_ follow Usenet policy (such as it is). Biz cannot be moved into the Usenet namespace, because it won't follow Usenet policy. The same is true for gnu, and for clarinet, and for alt, and for VMSNET. --John -------------------------------------------------------------------------- John L. Coolidge Internet:coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP:uiucdcs!coolidge Of course I don't speak for the U of I (or anyone else except myself) Copyright 1989 John L. Coolidge. Copying allowed if (and only if) attributed. You may redistribute this article if and only if your recipients may as well. New NNTP connections always available! Send mail if you're interested.