Newsgroups: comp.archives Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!ox.com!msen.com!emv From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) Subject: [news.admin] Re: CFD for"comp.faq" Message-ID: <1991Mar31.082623.6893@ox.com> Followup-To: news.admin Sender: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) Reply-To: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology References: <1991Mar27.105342.13550@hemel.bull.co.uk> <1978@tharr.UUCP> Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1991 08:26:23 GMT Approved: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) X-Original-Newsgroups: news.admin Archive-name: news/faq/mit-faq-collection/1991-03-29 Archive-directory: pit-manager.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/ [18.72.1.58] Original-posting-by: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) Original-subject: Re: CFD for"comp.faq" Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) In article <1978@tharr.UUCP> gtoal@tharr.UUCP (Graham Toal) writes: It's recently been pointed out to me that there's an archive site which collects all the faq files from various groups (and like a trottel I've already forgotten where it is :-) ) Pit-manager.mit.edu (18.72.1.58). Accessible via anonymous ftp in /pub/usenet, or via mail server (mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu -- send "help" for more information). -- perhaps making that archive site more popularly known would do instead of another group? I've been trying, believe me :-). However, I'm not convinced that my archive server is the best solution and that it should exist in isolation. On the other hand, I'm not convinced that an FAQ newsgroup is the right way to go either. The biggest advantage that I can see to an FAQ newsgroup is that news admins can set their explist to honor Expires: header lines in that newsgroup even if they don't honor them anywhere else. Many news sites have a maximum article lifetime set because people abuse Expires: and/or because of lack of space. If admins honored Expires: in the FAQ newsgroup (by adding just one line to their expire configuration file), people would know that the FAQs would always be findable in that newsgroup. But I don't consider that the best solution. The *best* solution, in my opinion, would be for Expires: to be respected, so that people could find the FAQs in the appropriate newsgroups. Unfortunately, as long as people cannot trust Expires: because of inappropriate usage of it, this isn't going to happen. Jonathan Kamens USnail: MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134 Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710