Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!sunic!dkuug!diku!rimfaxe.diku.dk!null
From: null@rimfaxe.diku.dk (Niels Ull Jacobsen)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: FAQ answers; post more often?
Message-ID: <1991Apr22.140442.25249@odin.diku.dk>
Date: 22 Apr 91 14:04:42 GMT
References: <1991Apr16.090229.1749@odin.diku.dk> <1991Apr17.142505.475@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
Sender: null@rimfaxe.diku.dk
Reply-To: null@rimfaxe.diku.dk (Niels Ull Jacobsen)
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen
Lines: 65

In article <1991Apr17.142505.475@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>,
cctr132@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Nick FitzGerald, CSC, Uni. of Canterbury,
NZ) writes:
> In article <1991Apr16.090229.1749@odin.diku.dk>, I wrote:
> > In the last couple of months there have been asked a lot of repetitious
> > (sp) questions: "How do I treat an .lzh file?", "Is there a ZIP for Unix?",
> > "What is the difference between EMS and XMS" etc.
> > 
> > I think this indicates that the "Answers to FAQ" should be posted
more often.
> > Perhaps once a week ?
> >[suggestion regarding splitting FAQ index from the actual answers deleted]
> 
> May one be so bold as to suggest that instaed of create more work for
> Raymond, that you hassle your sys-admins to fix your news reader so it
> respects the "Expiry:" header line?
> 
> Raymond's excellent FAQ hangs around in c.b.i.p.d at our site for 35 (?)
> days from posting, just as Raymond intends it to (but then, we've got a
> "real" news reader on a real computer - and I'm not going to start a
> stupid flame war by saying which either is!).
> 

I am aware of the "expire" date. However, my idea of the typical "novice"
user's intro to c.b.i.p.d is as follows:

A more experienced user shows N.User how to start the news reader:
   "Here, let me show you this, it's real neat."
Goes on to visit alt.sex, rec.humor.funny and c.b.i.p.d.
   "Hey, you have 93576 unread articles. If you're planning on going home
    this weekend, you'd better mark them all as read. Here, like this."

Mr. N.User reads a couple of conferences the next couple of days, and then 
finally musters his courage to ask: "But how do I treat all these .zoo 
files?" on c.b.i.p.d. Presto: Another unnecessary posting.

I think that this newsgroup is one of those most often read by new users.
And these might not be aware of the existance of a FAQ file. (Or even know 
the acronym). By increasing the frequency of the FAQ posting, we'd might 
catch more of them in time. And as this is a heavy bandwidth group, another
weekly posting won't make that much of a difference.

Just my 0.1546 Dkr (or whatever the current exchange rate is)!

      Niels Ull Jacobsen, Dep. of C.S., U of Copenhagen (null@diku.dk)

      Adaz sighed.  "So how long will this journey take?" 
      "A month?" Sutekh shrugged.  "Depends on when the horses die." 
     -- from "Adaz & Sutekh" by Jeff Stehmann







> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Nick FitzGerald, PC Applications Consultant, CSC, Uni of Canterbury, N.Z. 
>  Internet: n.fitzgerald@csc.canterbury.ac.nz        Phone: (64)(3) 642-337 

      Niels Ull Jacobsen, Dep. of C.S., U of Copenhagen (null@diku.dk)

   Adaz sighed.  "So how long will this journey take?" 
   "A month?" Sutekh shrugged.  "Depends on when the horses die." 
     -- from "Adaz & Sutekh" by Jeff Stehmann