Xref: utzoo alt.flame:32701 comp.lang.c:38988 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!gatech!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!sics.se!ifi!enag From: enag@ifi.uio.no (Erik Naggum) Newsgroups: alt.flame,comp.lang.c Subject: Re: tracking problems Message-ID: Date: 3 May 91 17:10:43 GMT References: <1991May1.143441.28659@swbatl.sbc.com> <9169: May205:59:1791@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Sender: enag@ifi.uio.no (Erik Naggum) Followup-To: alt.flame Organization: Naggum Software, Oslo, Norway Lines: 37 In-Reply-To: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu's message of 2 May 91 05: 59:17 GMT In comp.lang.c article <9169:May205:59:1791@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>, brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes: In article somebody writes: [ lots of stuff having nothing to do with C ] Question: I know this article is inappropriate for comp.lang.c. But how do I explain this to someone else? Is there some reasonably well-defined quality of an article that always implies inappropriateness? When someone asks what he's doing wrong with popen("who","r"), the answer might be that he's mismanipulating some FILE pointers, or it might be that he's misusing the output of the ``who'' command. How do you explain that his question was appropriate for comp.lang.c in the first case and comp.unix.questions in the second? Is the appropriate newsgroup a function of the question or of the answer? In either case, what's the function? Followups by e-mail. Yes, I'm asking this seriously. I simply can't figure out a good way to explain this ``appropriateness'' concept to people. Please *don't* send me e-mail if you don't have constructive suggestions. By implication of your last sentence, I post. The best way to explain the appropriateness concept is by example. Don't follow up to things which are not appropriate to a newsgroup in that newsgroup, and the stupid and ill-behaved posters may or may not go away. Your note, for instance, is not appropriate to comp.lang.c. As a result, I simply can't figure out how you think you could explain something to somebody when you don't even have a clue to it yourself. Note followup-to: alt.flame -- [Erik Naggum] Professional Programmer Naggum Software Electronic Text 0118 OSLO, NORWAY Computer Communications +47-2-836-863