Xref: utzoo news.software.b:5799 comp.sources.bugs:2568 Path: utzoo!utstat!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!mips!daver!tscs!tct!chip From: chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) Newsgroups: news.software.b,comp.sources.bugs Subject: Re: C News patch dating Message-ID: <26FA3C1B.5BB@tct.uucp> Date: 21 Sep 90 16:13:15 GMT References: <1990Sep17.121127.25859@ni.umd.edu> <1990Sep17.210150.1586@vicom.com> <1990Sep18.222450.25228@zoo.toronto.edu> Organization: Teltronics/TCT, Sarasota, FL Lines: 35 It is apparent that some people who dislike the C News patch scheme have become abusive to Geoff and Henry. Such abuse is stupid and unwarranted, and I will have no truck with it. Unfortunately, however, the abusers have apparently gotten Henry's goat. To wit: According to henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer): >People who moan that they can't tell which old patches they >need don't seem to ever have *looked* at one of our patches. This statement is, to be blunt, hogwash. I have seen every single patch to C News, and I've applied them all. I remain unconvinced that the C News patch system is viable as a long-term solution. (And I do not consider my complaints to be mere "moaning.") As the list of previous patches gets longer and longer, I grow more and more uncomfortable. How easy it might be to miss a patch. How difficult it might be to clean up afterwards, if I make that mistake. >The balance is perhaps slightly against dating, but hardly strong >enough to justify the vehement outpourings on the subject and the >tendency to blame it for all C News's ills. I don't think anyone can reasonably blame patch dating for C News' other problems -- which, I might add, have been few. Nevertheless, many reasonable people believe that patch dating is itself one of the problems of C News. Usenet maintenance is a job that many people do part-time, and often the time they use is their own. Keeping track of an ever-growing list of patch dates is just one more complication. In my opinion, anything that further complicates a Usenet administrator's job is a Bad Thing. -- Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT ,