Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!fsc2086!jim From: jim@fsc2086.UUCP (Jim O'Connor) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: Purposes of group Summary: my thoughts on the matter Message-ID: <312@fsc2086.UUCP> Date: 12 Oct 88 14:25:12 GMT References: <6798@ig.ig.com> Organization: Filtration Sciences Corp., Chattanooga, TN Lines: 36 In article <6798@ig.ig.com>, krone@presto.ig.com (Larry Krone) writes: > I just got into a discussion with Eliot Lear about his proposed > "moderation" (censorship???) of this group. Am I in the minority??? > > What do the readers of this group think the purposes of this > group should be, and would a moderator help matters??? > > Okay, what do you think out there (or, am I my usual minority of one) ??? > IMHO, news.admin should be for the posting of instuctions, tips, hints, warnings, etc. on the ADMINISTRATION OF THE NEWS SYSTEM. For example, things like optimization of batching schemes for different physical connections, ways to pass news using the existing software (discussion about changes/new software has its own group), ways to control bugs/problems in current setups, etc. A recent example of this is the Microsoft flood. News admins needed to know about this, and needed to know how to stop/fix it. If most news admins were skipping this group becasue of perceived garbage in it, the flood may have gone on uncontrolled (but probably not). This situation, however, also raises an issue about moderation. If this group is moderated, would the warnings and fix advice, in a situation like this, get out onto the net fast enough to be of real help. It looks like there is a trade-off here. Do we strive for quality and a commitment to specific subject matter at the expense of the speed of dissemination of info, or do we leave it open and deal with the extraneous stuff another way? Personally, I prefer quality and specific subject matter. If info really has to get somewhere fast, there is still e-mail and the telephone. ------- James B. O'Connor +1 615 821 4090 x651 Filtration Sciences Corp. UUCP: uunet!fsc2086!jim 105 West 45th Street or jim@fsc2086.UUCP Chattanooga, TN 37411