Xref: utzoo comp.sys.handhelds:8155 news.groups:32430 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!agate!agate.berkeley.edu!matt From: matt@physics20.berkeley.edu (Matt Austern) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds,news.groups Subject: Split of comp.sys.handhelds: straw poll results Message-ID: Date: 28 May 91 19:21:03 GMT Article-I.D.: physics2.MATT.91May28112103 Sender: root@agate.berkeley.edu (Charlie Root) Reply-To: matt@physics.berkeley.edu Distribution: comp Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Theoretical Physics Group) Lines: 43 A week or so ago, I send out a call for a straw poll on the best way to split comp.sys.handhelds. I asked people, in particular, whether they supported an hp48-only newsgroup, or a newsgroup on calculators in general. Well, here are the results of that straw poll. Fundamentally, I'm afraid it was more or less a failure. First of all, only 28 people responded to it. Second, as this table shows, there is nothing resembling a consensus. ----------------------------------------------------------- | Preferred solution: Number | | ------------------ ------ | | comp.sys.calculators 8 | | hp48-only group (e.g., comp.sys.hp48) 18 | | other (e.g., comp.sys.calculators.hp) 2 | ----------------------------------------------------------- (Some of the responses I got were a little unclear, or detailed. I shoved them into the Procrustean bed of this table as best I could.) A few people gave their reasons for their opinions. I don't see any reason to repeat them here; I've seen all of them posted on the net at one time or another, and if anyone wants to give further arguments for their opinions they can do it themselves. I also don't see any reason for me to repeat my own opinions: I've posted them enough times. Unfortunately, many of the people who responded said that if the CFV was for the proposal they didn't favor, they would vote against it. There seemed to be about the same number of intransigents on both sides. I would never have guessed that this newsgroup would be so controversial, but it is. The only solution, I think, is to use one the voting methods that have been devised for dealing with controversial newsgroups. Peter da Silva has already posted one article about such methods. -- Matthew Austern Just keep yelling until you attract a (415) 644-2618 crowd, then a constituency, a movement, a austern@lbl.bitnet faction, an army! If you don't have any matt@physics.berkeley.edu solutions, become a part of the problem!