Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!grebyn!escom!al
From: al@escom.com (Al Donaldson)
Subject: Re: comp.os.minix splitup
Message-ID: <1991Mar29.143439.2027@escom.com>
Organization: ESCOM Corporation
References: <49233@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1991 14:34:39 GMT

Bill Bogstad brackets the following in [sarcasm]:
> 	Huh?  You have to read a WHOLE 'nuther group.  This generally
> requires hitting "y" or maybe the return key when your news reading program
> presents you with the name of the "other" group.  You might also have to
> edit your .newsrc file once in order to put the two group names next to each
> other so you are sure to read both of them at the same time.  This is
> obviously more complicated then typical users of Minix are capable of
> managing.

My main objection to a split, any split, is that it requires posters
to make a decision:  which group do I post to?  The answer is often "both." 
And, all too often, instead of cross-posting, the user separately posts 
the message, once to group A and a second time to group B.  Two distinct
messages with the same content.  The result is (a) that the net carries 
the message twice to all sites and (b) we have to read the message twice.  
Someone has to pay for (a), and each of us pays for (b).

If anyone [in the US??] wants an example, check out the misc.forsale,
misc.forsale.computers, and misc.wanted kludge.  Sometimes I see the 
same message *three* times over there.  Maybe we can handle this --
maybe we're a lot smarter than those folks over there.. :-)

It's not a problem with the additional group.  I'll edit my .newsrc 
so I can read both of them together, as I suspect everyone else will.
The problem is that I have to read through probably a time and a half
the traffic to get the same content.

Al