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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!mcnc!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!bmcg!cepu!trwrba!trwrb!sdcrdcf!hplabs!nsc!chuqui
From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.general,net.news.group
Subject: Keywords: net.general, using it right, flame, comments, *argh*
Message-ID: <913@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 5-May-84 10:26:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: nsc.913
Posted: Sat May  5 10:26:54 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 8-May-84 07:19:06 EDT
Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale
Lines: 60

There have been some very disturbing trends in net.general recently, and 
at the risk of being told to go crawl back under my rock, I thought I would
make some suggestions that might make the network a little less painful for
people.

The volume for net.general has started rising dramatically again. This creates 
a problem, because if it gets too heavy people start unsubscribing to it, and
its usefulness dies. Because of this, we need to try to keep the volume down
so that people will read it. The big problem with net.general is that many 
people believe that it is a good place to stick just about anything (not an
unreasonable assumption, considering the name). This, unfortunately, is wrong.
Net.general was designed as a group to be read by everyone that would contain
items of interest to everyone. net.misc is the appropriate place for
random material that doesn't fit elsewhere.

So, a few specifics. If you recognize one of the following items as one of
your articles, please don't take it personally, just please be a little more
careful in the future:

Source code in net.general: In the last week I have seen two postings of 
    source code to net.general. We have a topic called net.sources for
    source code. Posting in net.general creates a couple of problems, the
    main one being that since net.sources is archived by many sites and 
    net.general is not, your source code will not be saved in many places
    and will therefore not be available in the future. net.general is also
    really not an appropriate place for the long articles source code implies.

Followups of net.general articles in net.general: Net.followup is the place
    where continued discussions of things seen in net.general should go. Most
    software on the net knows this and should route followups automatically,
    and it should not be overridden. This is an important way we keep the
    volume down.

Requests for information or services: Net.wanted is a topic that was created
    for people looking for things. A subset of messages that should go in 
    net.wanted are items being offered for sale. 

Suggestions for net topics: Net.news.group is the topic set up to discuss 
    other topics (including, recursively, net.news.group...). 

Requests for information on people, paths, and sites: We have recently set 
    up a topic called net.net-people. This is where requests for information 
    on getting from one computer to another or tracking down people should
    go.

sigh. I could go on, but I'm starting to sound like your mother. Most of the
problems showing up seem to be ones of newness - people who simply haven't 
been on the net long enough to get a feel for it. That isn't anyones fault, 
but to keep the net running (relatively) smoothly, occasionally we need to
remind people of things to do (and not do). The basic keyword for using the
network is 'think'. Be careful how you use it, and think about what you are
doing. If you aren't sure, ask! (net.news is a good place to ask questions
on the network... Someone is sure to give you an answer...)

chuq  
-- 
>From high above Benden weyr, Ch'qui, rider of the plaid dragon Plugh!
Chuq Von Rospach  {amd70,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4}!nsc!chuqui  (408) 733-2600 x242

ninety nine dead baboons, sitting in my living room...