Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!decwrl!ucbvax!PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU!GTHEALL
From: GTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (George A. Theall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: Arrgh!  Q-Bus & comp.sys.dec[.micro]
Message-ID: <9008252055.AA08164@remote.dccs.upenn.edu>
Date: 25 Aug 90 21:53:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 108


>Since several attempts at E-mail have failed
>to reach you, I will post this public:

   Ah, so this is why I never received a response when I requested
privately that you reconsider the appropriateness of using this group
for your ads.

>If someone will show me a listing of all the newsgroups,
>and what is to be discussed on each, I will gladly refrain
>from posting messages incorrectly, if that is the case.

    You may not be aware of it but this forum consists of two groups:
on USENET it appears as comp.sys.dec.micro while on BITNET/Internet
it is INFO-DEC-MICRO. The connection is transparent thanks to some
folks out at Berkeley.

    Since your access is apparently via USENET, then check out the
groups news.lists, news.groups, or news.announce.newusers. Every
month a set of articles is posted there describing how to use USENET
and what it's about. One contains a brief description of each valid
newsgroup on USENET, to wit:

                    ----- snip, snip, snip -----
Article 1224 of news.lists:
From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford)
Subject: List of Active Newsgroups  (Updated: 1  Aug 1990)
Date: 2 Aug 90 02:06:40 GMT
Expires: 31 Oct 90 02:06:39 GMT

[ assorted good stuff deleted, GAT, 25-Aug-90 ]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup          Description
----------------------------------------------------------------------
...
comp.sys.dec       Discussions about DEC computer systems.
comp.sys.dec.micro DEC Micros (Rainbow, Professional 350/380)
                    ----- snip, snip, snip -----

Note these articles have long expiration dates so they are probably
still available at your site should you wish to examine them
yourself. I encourage you to do so.

    What about INFO-DEC-MICRO? According to LISTSERV@CMUCCVMA, which
is a redistribution point on BITNET, the list's charter is as
follows:

                    ----- snip, snip, snip -----
* Description of the original list (addresses as seen from ARPANET):
*
*INFO-DEC-MICRO@ANDREW.CMU.EDU
*
* This forum is meant for the exchange of information concerning
* Digital Equipment Corp's microcomputers, including the VAXmate,
* the Professional Series, the DECmate, and the Rainbow.
                    ----- snip, snip, snip -----

You can check this out yourself by sending to the listserver a
message whose text reads "REVIEW MD4J" (no quotes).

   In sum, neither description explicitly mentions the PDP-11 series.
Do such machines they fall under the umbrella of "microcomputers"
then? Well, I'll admit to being fairly ignorant about them, and I'll
acknowledge the distinctions between types of computers have blurred
in recent years, but doesn't the literature tend to refer to PDP-11s
as "minicomputers" rather than "microcomputers"?

>Until then, I go by the following assumptions:
>...
>comp.sys.dec.micro    Computer systems, dec, micro. -
>
>                      Since I have a MICRO PDP-11, one must guess that
>                      this group includes smaller DEC systems, including,
>                      but not limited to 11/03, 11/23, 11/53, 11/73,
>                      Micro VAX, etc.

    A good practice to develop is to read the articles in a newsgroup
for a period of time before you actually post there. This is actually
one of the recommendations Spaf makes in the articles posted to
news.lists. And it avoids assumptions, erroneous ones at that, about
the content of a newsgroup based on its name. (And if you don't
believe me, then perhaps you'll consider posting to alt.flame for
opinions about which brand of briquettes to use at the next family
picnic. :-)

    Although this forum is by no means limited to Rainbows, I would
estimate most of the bandwidth concerns them, and this however you
choose to measure bandwidth - number of bytes, number of messages, or
number of people who post. Apart from your ads, Timothy, one could
undoubtedly count on his/her hand the number of messages appearing in
this newsgroup about any of the systems you mention above, including
PDP-11s. [And if anyone is inclined to do so, archives of postings to
this forum are available from the INFO-DEC-MICRO file archives,
albeit with a substantial time delay.]

    Finally, lest someone say this is the only forum for your ads,
let me point out that the ad in question was posted not only to
comp.sys.dec.micro but also to comp.sys.dec as well as misc.forsale.
Right, Tim?


George

---
BITNET: GTHEALL@PennDRLS               Dept. of Economics
Internet: GTHEALL@PennDRLS.UPenn.Edu   University of Pennsylvania
AT+TNet: +1 215 898 3419               Philadelphia, PA   19104-3987