Xref: utzoo ont.general:531 tor.general:490
Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.UUCP (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: ont.general,tor.general
Subject: Re: Local newsgroup proposals
Message-ID: <325@telly.UUCP>
Date: 5 Sep 88 18:14:47 GMT
References: <320@telly.UUCP> <3191@geac.UUCP> <1988Sep2.175608.5257@sq.uucp> <3198@geac.UUCP>
Distribution: ont
Organization: System telly, Brampton, Ontario
Lines: 33

In article <3198@geac.UUCP>, david@geac.UUCP (David Haynes) writes:
>
> What is wrong with saying "Post somewhere else for a while and *show*
> us you have the volume to create a new group?"

What is wrong is that volume alone is not criteria for creating a newsgroup.
Is the value of a group totally dependent on the traffic it creates?

You want tonnage? Create ont.bizzare. It's very easy to generate lots of
noise. Give me groups where there are few postings, but all are useful.

The Usenet guidelines (which I have called into question in an earlier
posting) require a call for votes - they do NOT require a previous volume.
There are many existing 'comp' groups which have far less volume than
most mail lists. Why? Because there are purposes in this world for both
high-volume mail lists and low-volume newsgroups.

Promise of lots of volume (AND a successful vote) didn't result in the
creation of rec.sex. There are many precedents where low volume groups
have been blessed but potentially high volume groups have been rejected.

> For example, I want to start a group about X windows. Quite a lot of people
> say "yes, do it". So I say fine, and start it up. No one posts to it.

What would be in your proposed group which would not be appropriate to
comp.windows.x, which already exists? What makes Canadian X-Windows different
from the U.S. flavour? Uniqueness is just as important a criteria as volume.

> David Haynes		(yunexus!murder!david)
-- 
Evan Leibovitch, SA of System Telly, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
            evan@telly.UUCP / {uunet!attcan,utzoo}!telly!evan
The advantage of the incomprehensible is that it never loses its freshness.