Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!inco!mack
From: mack@inco.UUCP (Dave Mack)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Scrap the current NG creation procedure, invent a new one
Message-ID: <4860@inco.UUCP>
Date: 5 Apr 89 15:51:35 GMT
References: <3010@looking.UUCP> <445@flatline.UUCP> <3199@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <4833@inco.UUCP> <3649@ficc.uu.net> <3130@alembic.UUCP> <462@flatline.UUCP>
Reply-To: mack@inco.UUCP (Dave Mack)
Organization: McDonnell Douglas-INCO, McLean, VA
Lines: 50

In article <462@flatline.UUCP> erict@flatline.UUCP (J. Eric Townsend) writes:
>In article <3130@alembic.UUCP> csu@alembic.UUCP (Dave Mack) writes:
>>Wrong. It deprives the vast majority of the net of their voice in
>>the issue of newsgroup creation. What is being proposed here is an
>
>What voice?  What bills do they pay?  How are they responsible when
>my spool disk goes blotto at 3am?  How are they helpful when
>a site administrator gets flooded with requests to cancel an
>obnoxious user's account?

What does this have to do with newsgroup creation? Users shouldn't
be allowed to vote because your spool directory fills up? Be serious.
A fair fraction of the noise on the net is due to people whining about
inappropriate posting/crossposting. Maybe a more lenient newsgroup
creation policy would alleviate that.

A lot of the argument over newsgroup creation seems to be based on the
idea that controlling newsgroup creation reduces the amount of traffic
on the net. I don't believe it. I suspect that if someone has something
to post, they'll post it regardless of whether there's a group specifically
for the topic or not. One way to test this idea would be to declare a
moratorium on newsgroup creation for a year and see if the growth in
volume during that year fits the curve from previous years. My guess is
that it would.

>I feel, actually, that the "vast majority of the net" has voice only
>if they can talk to their local site admin, or if they are the local
>site admin.
>
>Unfounded guess:  A large portion of the regular participants of news.all
>are site admins, or are in close contact with a site admin.  Perhaps a poll
>is needed?

Unfounded guess: most of the people who favor this proposal administer
tiny sites with very few users. Warning to Karl Kleinpaste and Bob
Sutterfield: from now on, you're the point of contact for all the OSU
students who want a newsgroup created or deleted.

Eric, it's pretty obvious that you've never had to be responsive to the
demands of a large group of semi-computer-literate users. Getting away
from that aggravation is as easy as 'u' or 'k' on the net. When they
start pounding on your office door or dialing your phone number, it's
a different story.

The cure you're proposing is worse than the disease.

-- 
Dave Mack
"Propose it in news.groups. Now leave me the hell alone."
                                         -- news admin war cry