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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!ulysses!smb
From: smb@ulysses.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: a new philosophy for subgroup creation
Message-ID: <559@ulysses.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Aug-83 13:07:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: ulysses.559
Posted: Sat Aug 20 13:07:46 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Aug-83 19:07:44 EDT
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 10

Recently, I've seen suggestions that specialized subgroups like net.music.jazz
and net.auto.bmw be created.  I think this is misguided.  The proper rationale
for creating a subgroup is not merely a sufficient amount of interest in
the subject, but a desire to exclude either the parent group or the subgroup
from one's reading.  For example, I suspect that most readers of net.auto.bmw
would still read net.auto, because of the information of general interest
discussed there; furthermore, I haven't seen sufficient traffic on BMWs to
annoy other readers of net.auto.  So why create a new group?

		--Steve Bellovin