Xref: utzoo alt.config:2622 news.groups:22832 news.software.b:5350
Path: utzoo!utstat!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!kodak!uupsi!sunic!nuug!barsoom!tih
From: tih@barsoom.nhh.no (Tom Ivar Helbekkmo)
Newsgroups: alt.config,news.groups,news.software.b
Subject: Re: ALT.GAMES.GALACTIC-BLOODSHED IS MISNAMED
Message-ID: <988@barsoom.nhh.no>
Date: 6 Aug 90 08:01:42 GMT
References: <985@barsoom.nhh.no> <1990Aug5.191819.7367@motcad.portal.com>
Followup-To: alt.config
Distribution: alt
Organization: Norwegian School of Economics
Lines: 38

jtc@motcad.portal.com (J.T. Conklin) writes:

>I don't blame Tom for not wanting to turn off POSIX/FIPS complience ---
>its not even an option for some vendor's platforms, but I disagree with
>you about renaming alt.games.galactic-bloodshed.  Let us instead take
>the time to fix "broken" news software.  It wouldn't be too difficult,
>and would be of great benifit to a lot of news users and administrators.

I agree with you in essence.  If we could have an official method (in
B and C news alike) for handling long group names (and, for that
matter, newsgroups with troublesome characters like '&' or '*' in
their names), that would be nice.  Until then, I don't really like the
idea that I and other sites with POSIX/FIPS compliant Unix V
implementations should have to go without a subset of newsgroups (so
far just this *one* newsgroup, of course) during the months (at least)
that it will take for such software changes to be implemented and
released as official patches by the authors of B and C news.

>[scheme for modifying news software deleted]

>Whether or not a simple truncation scheme or a more complex method is
>used, surely fixing the news software is a more responsible approach
>than limiting newsgroup name segments to 14 characters on all systems.

Again, I agree.  But *right now*, myself and a couple of hundred
people downstream of me are unable to read a.g.g-b (although of course
not all of us even want to), because of it's current incompatibility
with existing software.  Besides, the group was created without
further mention in alt.config by "root@taz.UUCP", an address it's
impossible to send mail to.  That in itself doesn't make me feel too
horrible about suggesting a change.

Let's fix the software *first*, and *then* start using the fixed version!

-tih
-- 
Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, NHH, Bergen, Norway.  Telephone: +47-5-959205
tih@barsoom.nhh.no, thelbekk@norunit.bitnet, edb_tom@debet.nhh.no