Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!topaz!klinzhai!webber From: webber@klinzhai.RUTGERS.EDU (Webber) Newsgroups: news.stargate Subject: how does comp.sys.masscomp benefit from a moderator????? Message-ID: <228@brandx.klinzhai.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Wed, 13-May-87 05:34:12 EDT Article-I.D.: brandx.228 Posted: Wed May 13 05:34:12 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 16-May-87 01:18:18 EDT References: <965@vortex.UUCP> <7946@utzoo.UUCP> <7947@utzoo.UUCP> <124@academ.UUCP> Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 54 Summary: just what are you turning away? In article <124@academ.UUCP>, sob@academ.UUCP (Stan Barber) writes: > In article <522@aramis.RUTGERS.EDU> webber@aramis.RUTGERS.EDU (Webber) writes: > >Of course, if you want someone else's idea of quality, there are > >professionally edited publications on every subject covered by usenet > >(well, maybe there isn't one about stargate yet). ... > I have yet to find a professionally editied publication that deals with > the technical aspects of computing on as Masscomp computer. If you find > one, please send me a note so I can inform the people who read > comp.sys.masscomp. Responses that mention unix or 68000-based computers > do not deal with the real-time or data-acquisition aspects of these > computers and it is the consideration of all these factors that make > the need for the newsgroup necessary. My news source has only 5 articles from your group. The first was a 14 line request about some mysterious program called `top' from some user (sent 1 May 87). The second was 72 lines written by you summarizing some users group meeting (dated 3 May 87). The third was 67 lines written by you continuing the summary (dated 4 May 87). The fourth was 13 lines written by you about the X window system. The fifth and last was a 28 line message asking about some multi-machine configuration problems (dated 8 May 87). I don't remember seeing anything specific to real-time data-acquisition. I would think that a group on such a topic would be much more interesting. Unless masscomp is one of these wierd closed-system/no-source/bad-manual systems, I am hard put to figure out what you are up to out there (aside from generating messages for your group). [Incidently, your signature line on the group indicates that you are president of the Masscomp User's Group -- don't they have a newsletter?] [By the way, do you archive your group?] > I chose to set it up as moderated because many Masscomp users are not > on usenet, and have to have the items in the newsgroup mailed to them > directly. Also, I believe that removing redundancy is simply good stewartship > of the usenet resource. A moderated newsgroup affords this; an unmoderated > one does not. As a moderator, I do not tend to enforce my ideas of quality, > but simply attempt to provide a conduit between users. I grant that this is a > monitored flow that will sometimes have my comments added in, but often > that takes care of the query or stimulates other thoughts. I would love to hear/see all these redundant messages you have been filtering out. Perhaps 60 users recently asked if anyone had gotten `top' to work? Or perhaps the microvax/masscomp configuration has spawned hundreds of requests about how to get it working? I fail to see why it is necessary for you to moderate the usenet discussion in order for you to forward it to non-usenet users. Certainly it is possible to answer queries and stimulate discussion without forcing all of it to go through you first. In any event, the usenet is a conduit, a moderator is more properly termed a bottleneck. ---------------------------- BOB (webber@aramis.rutgers.edu)