🚀 go-pugleaf

[ sorry, couldn't cross-post to sat.news; we don't have that here... ]

quoting sob@owlman.academ.com (Stan Barber) :
>
> Various news administrators in the state are working with me to clean up
> the state and city newsgroups and create a cohesive and accurate list of
> whats available.

	very good idea.  please keep several issues in mind:


(1) The name of a group should, intuitively, make clear to the neophite user
     what topics are welcome for discussion in the group and what is not
    (well, as far as that is possible).  In a sense, choosing a good (the
    right?) groupname is a black art but more important even than expressing
    the charter well in the one-liner (which decent news-readers present as
    a reminder to the poster before accepting an article for distribution).

Corollary:  the following group-names are a BAD-BAD idea:

		*.general
		*.followup
		*.news  (should be *.usenet)

	and should be eliminated (before someone calls for tar and feathers
	for the guilty parties).  except, of course, if, like *.flames, one
	decides to create them as a posting area to attract the clueless,
	which one simply ignores then.... but that's not really the (helpful)
	USEnet way; an effort made at education is better than putting the
	dunce-cap on neophites....

		*.important
		*.announce

	aren't very intuitive names either (everybody tends to think of their
	missing cat as IMPORTANT and worth an ANNOUNCEment and everyone with
	something to sell thinks his announcements deserve to be ANNOUNCEd
	and considered IMPORTANT.  I moderate an announce group, rejecting
	such things seems most of what I do these days), but as long as the
	group is moderated, it is a nuisance only to one (which is why I urge
	that groups named  *.important should be created only if moderated)


(2) it would be best if the groupnames are chosen in such a way that they
    are identical to those used in other regional areas  (the ba.* and ca.*
    hierarchy might be a good one to play copy-cat to), especially as one
    starts to break local groups further into sub-groups.


(3) given that newsgroup names really work like keywords, one should probably
    create a lot of new groups, splitting existing ones into sub-groups
    (and when doing that, always create a  *.misc group also!)


(4) the process of how group creation/deletion in local hierarchies
    gets decided should be documented.  The "informal method" which
    is currently being practiced is fine with me (while it can last)
    but, in fairness to the growing user community, it should be spelled
    out and a growth-path be indicated (I hope there'll never be a
    process as involved as for global groups, but an increased enduser
    participation in the process would not be a bad thing either)


> The groups marked by an * will be rmgrouped as part of the cleanup
> unless someone has a strong interest in keeping them.

	while at it, maybe some one-liner descriptions could be "improved"


>austin.forsale          Stuff for sale in Austin.

			personal classified ads.  NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE

	while at it, why not split it into subgroubs:

		austin.forsale.cars
		austin.forsale.computers
		austin.forsale.houseware
		austin.forsale.misc

	at the same time, I would suggest creating an  austin.housing
	(as exists in the Bay-area with  ba.housing), with sub-groups
	to be created (later or now, I wouldn't mind either)


>austin.general          Items of general interest in Austin.

	REPLACE  with  austin.misc

>austin.music		Austin's greatest export.

	what a silly one-liner.  maybe a split is the best solution:

		austin.music.events
		austin.music.gossip
		austin.music.misc

>austin.news             USENET related discussions in Austin.

	REPLACE  with  austin.usenet.misc  (or austin.usenet.talk)

>austin.news.stats       USENET statistics in Austin.

	REPLACE  with  austin.usenet.stats

>austin.personals        How to meet someone in Austin.

	excuse me?!?  is it just me for whom this one-liner doesn't compute?

>austin.politics         Politics in Austin.

	city politicking (take state and national politics elsewhere)

>austin.public-net	Discussion of public Internet access in Austin.

	I never liked that name, thought it confusing even to non-neophite.

	how about	austin.internet.access

	(a  austin.internet.access.public can be split off, when needed)

>austin.talk             Talk, gossip, and chatter in Austin.

	<sigh>  needed so one can tell the BBS-weenies to "take it there"

>austin.flame

	<sigh>  flame, talk and forsale groups were all invented because
	one wanted to be able to tell people to "take it elsewhere" (as
	a simpler and less frustrating alternative to argueing with them
	to stop posting such crap).  I wonder, however, if one shouldn't
	fight it out with them, especially as many take the existence of
	such groups as an invitation to post (more) such stuff!?!

	especially with the arrival of all the snake-oil salesmen on the
	"InfoBahn" and all that BBS-mentality, this has become increasingly
	annoying and resource consuming....

	so I would suggest to not create flame groups in local hierarchies
	and rather tell the flamers to "take it to alt.flames" (using the
 	Distribution header to indicate "regional interest only -- as if
	anyone cared....)

>austin.test             Testing USENET postings in Austin.

	REPLACE  with  austin.usenet.test

>austin.followup		Followups for Austin, TX.*

	KILL.  no replacement (whoever created this one was simply clueless)


>austin.announce

	KILL. replace with austin.usenet.announce

>austin.important	Important issues in Austin, TX.*

	REPLACE  with  austin.mod.important (moderated)

	moderated groups are the only hope to get anything useful
	out of the overcrowded and pot-holed InfoBahn these days.

	One should encourage them by creating a high-level hierarchy,
	split into subgroups for as many topic areas as one can find
	moderators for musical and sports events, headlines, weather
	reports, professional and user group meetings, all those things
	that together generates the content of a good paper or magazine
	(thanks to professional writing, publishing, and editing)

-- 
             "Free Advice and Opinions -- Refunds Available"
-> Tiananmen Square: 5 years later, ignoring it becomes official US policy <--
  ---> ( I believe in emailing courtesy copies of follow-up articles ) <---