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From: markc@wpi.wpi.edu (Mark B. Cohen)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: CALL FOR DISCUSSION: comp.text.TeX
Message-ID: <6372@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 89 19:49:23 GMT
References: <14650@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <2173@ruuinf.cs.ruu.nl>
Reply-To: markc@wpi.wpi.edu (Mark B. Cohen)
Organization: CS Dept., Worctechnic Polyester Institute, Worcester, MA
Lines: 74

In article <2173@ruuinf.cs.ruu.nl> piet@cs.ruu.nl (Piet van Oostrum) writes:
`
`In article <14650@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, kwon@sybil (Thomas Kwon) writes:
` `
` `I was wondering if anyone is interested in creating a newsgroup called
` `"TeX.questions" or something along that line.
` `
`I had been contemplating the creation of a newsgroup comp.text.TeX for some
`days when Thomas' message appeared. As I haven't seen an official call for
`discussion yet, I think it is time to issue one. Otherwise we will get a
`loose discussion that brings us nowhere.

I agree.  There is sufficient traffic in comp.text to sustain a spilt.
Granted, the volume does not require one, but I have seen too many groups
become unreadable because of an overly high volume.  My personal
favorite example is comp.sys.ibm.pc.... but that's a whole new topic.

`I propose the newsgroup to be unmoderated.
`
`The newsgroup is for TeX and LaTeX related postings. These are now mainly
`found in comp.text, with some Postscript related postings in
`comp.lang.postscript. About half (or a little bit more) of comp.text is
`devoted to TeX and LaTeX, and I rather would not be bothered by nroff/troff
`or even WP. This motivates the place in the hierarchy.

There are so many different flavors of TeX:  LaTeX, BibTeX, MuTeX, etc....
An open forum for any and all of them would be most welcome.

`Now about the name: An other alternative would be comp.text.tex. I have a
`number of reasons to propose comp.text.TeX.
`1. It hono(u)rs Knuth in that this is HiS preferred spelling.
`2. Isn't it nice to have the first newsgroup with capital letters in its name?
`3. While pressing the shift key you have an additional 2 seconds to think
`   about your posting.

I have no direct personal preference as to the _spelling_ of a group name.
I do have, however, two questions.
First, a minor issue.  
   Are there any flavors of news software that would object to 
   uppercase letters in a news group name?
   [Although I haven a personal SysV site, (doesn't everyone now? :)
   I don't know anything about usenet administration.]
Second, a heirarchy issue.
   There exists the group comp.lang.postscript.  Is it not true that
   TeX is as much of a language as PostScript?  
   (Religious flames followup to alt.religion.computers)
   Even if a group for TeX discussion is to be a split off of
   comp.text, IMHO, the group should be named comp.lang.(tex||TeX).

`NOTE: Please let us not have another aquarium disaster!

What's wrong with sci.TeX?  The perfect group for
discussing Knuth's _TeX for Scientific Documentation_.

`I think it would be advisable if the TeXhax Digest would be
`bi-directionally gatewayed. It is now gatewayed *into* comp.text, but for
`the benefit of those poor people without Usenet access, the other way would
`also be preferable. So I will also send this message to TeXhax. Of course
`gatawaying is up to the moderators. They can also make a reasonable
`selection for inclusion.

I agree with gatewaying the Digest.  What about the LaTeX volunteer
group at Stanford?  Should there be a similar gateway from them?
Or how about a condensation of "LaTeX-help@Stanford's Commonly Asked
Questions"? 

`Piet* van Oostrum, Dept of Computer Science, Utrecht University,

P.S.  In case you weren't sure, regarding sci.TeX:  :-)  :-)

Mark Cohen, Dept of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechic Institute
        markc@wpi.wpi.edu   markc@wpi.bitnet
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