Text File

Aucbvax.2946 fa.unix-wizards utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!unix-wizards Fri Sep 4 15:04:28 1981 Re: PROPER FORUM >From mike.bmd70@BRL Fri Sep 4 14:55:10 1981 Gentlepeople -

My concern about UNIX-WIZARDS being the proper forum stems from comments several months back, where a rash of "wizards" dropped off the list because of the increasing triviality of the messages being sent. We must try to cater to the people who have only a limited amount of time to devote to reading their mail. On the other hand, I enjoy reading these messages, because this way I can keep informed. The discussion on the CS-11 strongly reinforced some of our purchasing decisions, and saved us (The Guv'mnt) a lot of time & trouble. However, I get nearly 100 letters a day, and consider myself fortunate that I can take the time to read them all.

There are only two mechanisms that I know about which we can use to try and insulate those people with limited time from the full blast of mail:

1) Separate into several mailing lists. Discussions on hardware used with UNIX is useful. Comments about Bugs & Troubles are critical. Meta- discussions are useful in assessing where we are and where we are going. All are important. Perhaps they should be separate lists with overlapping memberships.

2) Adopt a "Digest" Format like SF-LOVERS or some of the other big lists, with the moderator serving as a "filter" for junk mail, and re-directing simpler inquires to appropriate people without hitting the whole list. Would anybody care to moderate the list?

BRL has a strong commitment to UNIX, and we encourage discussions about UNIX. If SRI gets overwhelmed by the burden of distributing the list, or if we "clone" several lists, we will be glad to take on the task of mailing the stuff. Enough of it comes from here, anyways.

I am also concerned about the USENET participants. We really need to be able to interact with them in a better way, yet UUCP gateways to the ArpaNet are VERBOTEN. The only umbrella I know of is CSNET...

Can we reach some kind of agreement on how the list should grow and expand? It should be easier (because I just volunteered mail services), but it should be conherent!

Cheers, -Mike

----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/

This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided:

1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles.

2. The following notice remains appended to each copy:

The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.