Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site Shasta.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!Glacier!Shasta!andy
From: andy@Shasta.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Usenet contacts
Message-ID: <1049@Shasta.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 10-Oct-85 22:56:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: Shasta.1049
Posted: Thu Oct 10 22:56:53 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 15-Oct-85 07:24:35 EDT
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 29

I know that this is a small matter compared to the keyword vs other
debate but ....

Is there some reason that there is no standard mail box at every site
for usenet problems, question, etc?  (For those of you with arpanet
experience, the postmaster address serves much the same purpose.)
As it is now, the contact address is usually a person.

There are two problems with that.  The first is rather trivial.
You always have to look up the correct name (and all the problems
that can cause).  The second is a little more serious.  People
aren't necessarily there just because the machine is.  Most of
the contacts take vacations and occasionally change jobs.  In
the latter case, the map entry gets updated but people who
"remember" are out of luck.  In the former case, well, when is
the last time you changed the map entry before you went on vacation?
(Given the map distribution delay, I'd be surprised if more than
a few ever do.)

If every site used postmaster (for argument's sake, pick another
name if it's better) as the usenet contact and it was locally
aliased to the correct person, neither of these problems would
exist.  You can go away for a week and know that usenet adminstration
mail is being delivered to someone (assuming you remembered to
update the alias) without giving them access to your mailbox.

Then again, this isn't very anarchistic.

-andy