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From: rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe)
Newsgroups: net.news.group,net.columbia
Subject: Re: Silly, silly us: net.columbia
Message-ID: <628@riccb.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Feb-86 14:18:29 EST
Article-I.D.: riccb.628
Posted: Sat Feb 15 14:18:29 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Feb-86 06:15:10 EST
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Xref: watmath net.news.group:5070 net.columbia:2369

This article is cross-posted to net.news.group and net.columbia.
Followups should go ONLY to net.news.group.

> Sigh.  A shuttle blows up, and in a week, half the traffic in the
> appropriate newsgroup is on what to call the newsgroup.  Sigh.
> 
> Alan Silverstein

Does that surprise you?  It was because the newsgroup had a bad name
to begin with.  It should have been net.space.shuttle from the very
beginning.  Just think - how silly is it to name a newsgroup net.mimd
instead of net.arch?  Or net.struct instead of net.lang.c?  But no, it
was named for sentimental reasons net.columbia.  This led to all kinds
of misunderstandings when it came to people wanting to know if there was
even a newsgroup for space shuttle articles or if net.columbia was meant
entirely for discussions of the make-up of Columbia River.

With a sentimental (as opposed to rational) name like net.columbia, it
was inevitable that someone would suggest renaming it net.challenger,
also for sentimental reasons.  In fact, I think the first suggestion of
that type was posted the very day of the explosion.  And then followed a
torrent of postings from net readers saying "count this as my vote for
changing net.columbia to net.challenger."  Much, if not all, of this could
have been avoided if it had been named net.space.shuttle from the beginning.

I and others suggested several times long before the Challenger accident
that the name should be net.space.shuttle.  This movement never got enough
support to accomplish the name change.  I appeal now, on rational grounds,
to all readers of net.columbia who are irritated by the flood of postings
of the "net.challenger" type:
	LET'S CHANGE THE NAME OF net.columbia TO net.space.shuttle !
I think the advantages of this name change far outweigh any claimed dif-
ficulties from such a change.  And suggestions that net.challenger is
a fitting memorial or that net.columbia was to honor the first space
shuttle just don't hold any rational water.  Even net.enterprise would
have made a more reasonable name than net.columbia.  (And it can never
be destroyed in space.)  But let's make things right and make it, once
and for all, net.space.shuttle.
--
Roger Noe			ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe