Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!Teknowledge.COM!unix!hplabs!hp-sdd!ncr-sd!ncrcae!secola!oiscola!dbarnhar
From: dbarnhar@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM (David C. Barnhart II)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: No "FOR SALE" Postings Here
Keywords: Thought police, flame, nazi
Message-ID: <114@oiscola.Columbia.NCR.COM>
Date: 27 Mar 90 19:35:30 GMT
References: <1763@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> <7087@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Reply-To: dbarnhar@oiscola.UUCP (David C. Barnhart II)
Organization: NCR/OISD Columbia
Lines: 56

In article <7087@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> patten@uhccux.UUCP (Brian Patten) writes:
>In article <1763@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> delaney@xn (John R. Delaney) writes:
>>Please do not post "For Sale" messages to this group (or
>>comp.sys.mac.hardware or comp.sys.mac.programmer). There are local and
>>national *.forsale groups expressly for that purpose.
>>
>>At the very least, please try one of those groups first and post your "For
>>Sale" messages here only if you cannot get satisfaction there.
>>
>>This was a public service announcement....
>
>
>Who died and made you moderator?
>
> [stuff deleted here . . .]
>
>So, what is the net's opinion?  This guy says he was making a public
>service announcement, but does he in fact represent the public?  Or is
>he just playing net police?
>
>
>Brian M. Patten
>"My opinion is my own...really!"
>Institute for Astronomy
>University of Hawaii
>patten@hubble.ifa.hawaii.edu


I don't know if Mr. Delaney represents the majority, but he certainly does
not represent my point of view.  Certainly there are problems with the volume
of traffic in comp.sys.mac, but removing the "Mac stuff for sale" messages
will only reduce the traffic slightly, and it has the added problem of forcing
those of us who are looking for "Mac stuff" to read Yet-Another-Newsgroup,
largely full of uninteresting (and mostly non-Mac) for-sale/wanted messages.
It's hard enough keeping up with a group that mostly represents the same
interests I have, let alone one that caters to everyone in the computer market.
Those interested in buying Macs & peripherals would be better off looking in
a Mac group, and those who want to sell should sell to the right audience.
There are many people like me who do not have time to read 3000 different
newsgroups just to find various topics about Macs.

I do agree however, with the recent proposal to split the Mac hierarchy
further, keeping the groups more relevant and while not increasing (by much)
the amount of time necessary to keep up with the various Mac groups.  This
split involves making a Mac for-sale/wanted group as well, I believe.
This is certainly a much better solution than some self-appointed net god
telling everyone to look in misc.x (x being an instance of some arbitrarily
large number of groups) for something just because he thinks it is
inappropriate in the group he's reading.  If there is a PROPER group for
the posting then put it there, but misc.* is not always the proper place,
and, IMHO, misc.forsale is less appropriate than comp.sys.mac.

Dave Barnhart
NCR Office Information Systems
3245 Platt Springs Rd.
West Columbia, SC  29169