Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!garnet!weemba
From: weemba@garnet.berkeley.edu (Obnoxious Math Grad Student)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: News.announce.newuser seems to be empty
Message-ID: <13546@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 23 Aug 88 00:49:08 GMT
References: <20421@watmath.waterloo.edu> <1070@cfa214.cfa250.harvard.edu> <13498@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <4712@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <2457@inco.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: weemba@garnet.berkeley.edu (Obnoxious Math Grad Student)
Organization: Brahms Gang Posting Central
Lines: 67
In-reply-to: mack@inco.UUCP (Dave Mack)

In article <2457@inco.UUCP>, mack@inco (Dave Mack) writes:
>I agree with Allison and weemba: there should be an automated
>(dare I say enforced?) mechanism for training the newbies.

The first thing that should be changed is that in the default news
configuration, n.a.n should never be expired.  Henry stated that
C news allows you to set this up.  Eric is pretty fast, so I'm sure
it will be a feature in 3.0.  A patch in 2.11's expire that would
only expire n.a.n with an explicit -nanu flag should probably round
out most of Usenet.

>							    It
>should be built into the newsreaders. When someone lights up a
>newsreader, and no .newsrc exists in their home directory,

So far, Gnews merely puts n.a.n as their first newsgroup in this
situation.

>							    the
>software should go into training mode and not leave it until
>the user has shown at least a rudimentary knowledge of the
>net.

I think that's a bit too much.  I don't know, really.  I think there
should be a built-in guide to Usenet for beginners *built into the
newsreader*.

One thing I've suggested to Gene Spafford was that the Message-ID's
for n.a.n articles be standardized in an algorithmically determinable
way.  For example, the List of Active Newsgroups, Aug '88, would be
in article <LoAN.8.88@purdue.edu>.  This would let newsreading soft-
ware get easily at these articles at user request, say via some ob-
vious menu.

Gnews, being part of Emacs, has its manual available on-line, and I've
added Gnews commands to access various chapters of the manual directly.
It would be easy to put in even more.

>Obviously, there are major logistical problems with this, given
>the spectrum of news versions and newsreaders out there.

I don't think it needs to be that difficult, if the bulk of the effort
is in separate text files.  In my own Gnews manual, I've put in some
little comments here and there, nothing profound.

For example, there's a command for changing the ">" prefix for a
region to something else in Gnews, about which I say:

|`C-c >'
|     `reply->-replace'
|
|Most sites have what is called the "50% rule".  Articles must have
|more than 50% unindented lines.  Since indentation in this situation is
|defined crudely---on purpose---as just a line beginning with a `>', it
|is very easy to get around.  [...]
|
|The commonly seen practice of adding "filler" lines should be avoided.

>Should the training consist of a tutorial, or should we go to
>the extreme of a programmed training system with quizzes?

Don't ask me.

>Am I completely insane?

Probably.  Aren't we all.

ucbvax!garnet!weemba	Matthew P Wiener/Brahms Gang/Berkeley CA 94720