Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!udel!burdvax!dave
From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Suggestion against multiple postings
Message-ID: <14620@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 30 Jul 90 20:27:18 GMT
References: <1990Jul29.232510.17562@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 29

In article <1990Jul29.232510.17562@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> kyt@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Kok Yong Tan) writes:

>This is not a flame but merely a suggestion.  I know that to get a response,
>one has to post to multiple newsgroups especially for topics which are
>difficult to classify.  However, in the return message, could those responding
>edit the "Newsgroups" field to just include the newsgroup they are currently
>reading?

It will never happen.  Perhaps your message will make a few people
realize they can do this, and may spark a few more people to try a
little harder to remember to do it.  However, the net population is an
ever-changing one, and humans are not intrinsically a compulsively
careful species.

>Comments, anyone?  Is there a better way?

A much more workable scheme would be to write (and widely distribute)
a news program that asks you whether you want to reply to multiple
groups (the way my mailer asks if I want to append my .sig file).  The
default should be no, don't cross-post.  This would not only remind
people but also make it easy for them.

I'm posting this reply just in case someone with the competence and
the spare time thinks this would be a good thing to program.

-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)
-- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA  19301
-- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable.
< You can put a mouse on an IBM.  And you can put a radio on a motorcycle. >