Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!news!mahesh
From: mahesh@news.nd.edu (Mahesh Subramanya)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Programmers Mailing List
Message-ID: <189@news.nd.edu>
Date: 1 Jun 90 03:10:45 GMT
References: <18653@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Organization: Univ. of Notre Dame
Lines: 64

From article <18653@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU:, by pvo@sapphire.OCE.ORST.EDU (Paul O'Neill):
: In article <184@news.nd.edu> mahesh@news.nd.edu (Mahesh Subramanya) writes:
:>
:>Speaking for myself, newsgroups are infinitely preferable to mailing lists.
:>
: 
:  
: THINK folks, USENET is not the answer to everything:
: 
: 1)	A mailing list wouldn't have dweebs like me posting stuff you're not
: 	interested in (Glenn's quote, above, is praising low S/N ratio)

Yup.  But when your signal shows up only ever so often, it really
doesn't matter.  I don't mind dweebs (grin) posting when I get only
around a dozen or so articles.

: 
: 2)	Mailing lists have a much faster response than USENET.
: 	(Witness "sun-managers", and that's a big one.)

True.  BUT at six "essential" mail lists (including s-m above), I get ways
too many messages in me mailbox.  Sucks little green scalloped potatoes
big time.

: 
: 3)	Can you say: "Skipping unavailable article" ?
: 	Mailing lists are MUCH more reliable than USENET.
: 	I've never seen /usr/spool/mail fill up, our news partition does all
: 	the time.

True.  Sad but true.

: 
: 4)	While you're on vaction or just to busy too keep up, the articles
: 	are still waiting in your mailbox, not expiring into gone-forever land.

OH - but how I wish they were expired!!  Nothing as daunting as 
returning from USENIX -Wash. and finding half a mill. messages 
describing various orders of simulated panic.  (I almost deleted
'em all, but wiser(?) counsel prevailed)

: 
: 5)	The members had to at least take the initiative to send a request
: 	to a list maintainer.  Just this tiny hurtle does wonders for S/N.

Again true.  Gets rid of aforesaid dweebs (multiple :-)s ).

: 
: 
: Frankly, I don't care if a programming subset splits off or not.  But, if
: it does, mailing-list is much superior to usenet-news-group.
: 

Neither do I, but I definitely don't want YAML (Yet Another Mail...)
filling up me mail box, sure and begorrah.  Have a heart.  If u must
split, I'd infinitely rather have c.s.n.prog.

************************************************************************
Mahesh Subramanya                     INTERNET: mahesh@darwin.cc.nd.edu
Senior Analyst                        
Office of University Computing        NeXT:     mahesh@numenor.cc.nd.edu
University of Notre Dame              Voice:    (219) 239-5600  x6421
Notre Dame,  IN  46556
************************************************************************