Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!uw-beaver!milton!sumax!nwnexus!vantage!ray
From: ray@vantage.UUCP (Ray Liere)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: comp.sources.misc != alt.sources
Message-ID: <17900011@vantage.UUCP>
Date: 6 Apr 91 23:33:16 GMT
References: <17900010@vantage.UUCP>
Organization: Vantage Consulting and Research Corporation
Lines: 70

I appreciate the helpful comments made by so many in response to my
original posting requesting opinions on alt.sources as compared to
comp.sources.misc and comp.sources.unix. I found the information very helpful.
As promised, here are the anonymous-ized email replies that I received:
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I would estimate the volume to be less than 3 Mb/month. ...
I have found some interesting things in alt.sources, but caveat emptor...  :-)
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I find that *both* alt.sources and comp.sources.misc are *very* useful
resources.  Typically, people post sources to alt.sources
when they (1) aren't real sure how debugged or portable they are, but think
they still might be useful, (2) don't want to go 3 rounds with the moderator
over packaging (although our fine comp.sources.misc moderators have been
*eminently* reasonable) (3) just want it out today, and are not willing to
wait (although again, the comp.sources.misc turnaround has been *very*
short.  The biggest problem is that one is theoretically supposed to post to
comp.sources.unix *first* with UN*X postings, and getting a response from
the moderator can (net.rumors(TM) are true here) take quite a long time).

I have had no more trouble compiling the sources from alt.sources than from
the moderated groups, overall -- I think that the insistence of some users
of these groups that everything build 100% correctly on their bizarre
machine right off the net is a sure way to make sure they never receive any
software.  I *expect* to have to hack the Makefiles a bit and change a bit
of the C, and I'm rarely disappointed, and it's rarely very difficult.

I don't think I'd worry too much about the "self-moderated" nature of the
sources -- there used to be an alt.sources-index which would index source
postings, as well, although I'm not sure that's still supported...

Thus, all in all, I highly recommend an alt.sources feed for your site.
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My site doesn't get alt.sources either, but as I understand it, the main
purpose of alt.sources is to distribute beta test versions of software.
Of course, much of what comes out on comp.sources.misc isn't past the beta
test point either, and sometimes fairly solid software may be posted to
alt.sources because the comp.sources moderators appear to be dead.

If it is like any other unmoderated newsgroup you can expect to have to
wade through a fair amount of line noise that has little to do with
sources.
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alt.sources is useful.

There isn't _that_ much garbage in there (most of it is moans about the amount
of garbage at the moment!), and it only takes a few seconds to read...

Here are the Subjects of all the current articles.  I've marked the ones
(from memory, I didn't look at the files again) with source in them.

It's unusually low at the moment because someone annoyed everyone by posting
some awfully tedious jargon file to lots of groups.

[ full list omitted: summary -- 28 entries, 10 sources]

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Thanks again for your constructive comments.

Ray Liere
Vantage Consulting and Research Corporation
voice: +1 503 657 7294
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