Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!drivax!liberato
From: liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: CALL FOR LOCAL DISCUSSION: Split the c.s.a group more?
Message-ID: <YPCRMFW@dri.com>
Date: 8 Oct 90 00:16:53 GMT
References: <1990Oct6.051722.7143@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>
Reply-To: liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato)
Organization: Digital Research, Inc., Monterey, California
Lines: 38

xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:

>I only let myself get dragged into these things because I'm bored and
>I can't keep up with comp.sys.amiga and read any of the rest of the
>net as well.  Here's my long promised start on the politics of a new
>comp.sys.amiga heirarchy.

I'm curious, are there people out there who actually try to read c.s.a.
sequentially without preselecting individual articles/threads?  Newsreaders
like nn and second generation versions of rn such as trn allow very EASY
preselection according to subject line and author.  

I am not in favor of a proliferation of subgroups for a few reasons.  First,
just as discussion threads tend to meander off into areas unrelated to the 
original subject line so too would the purity of the subgroup be affected 
by such entropic tendencies.   

Second, the incidence of crossposting will increase dramatically.  That in 
itself doesn't increase the bit volume but it does defeat the purpose of 
insulated discussion threads.  (Note how hardware stuff is still being 
crossposted to tech which was supposed to be for programming discussions.)

Next, although sites should always accept redirected subgroups (after all it 
is not really an increase in volume, right) there always seems to be a problem 
with this (witness c.s.a.games).  So you will get posts that say: "Our site
doesn't get c.s.a.video so I am posting it here." 

Finally, I often stumble upon threads that are interesting that I may never
have discovered if they where in a subgroup I had arbitrarily excluded.

If indeed there are categories of discussion that maintain a consistent life 
of their own then I would be in favor of further splitting.  As far as I can
see, most problems can be addressed with the use of a modern newsreader and
judicious use of accurate and timely subject line.

--
Jimmy Liberato   liberato@dri.com
                 ...uunet!drivax!liberato