Usenet News

This is a dissenting opinion. On Usenet, the bandwidth would instantly
multiply by a factor of ten, and

(a) if James were moderating things he'd be buried

(b) if James weren't moderating things this group wouldn't be worth reading.

Leave Usenet to Usenet type reader, and leave the TML where we can all
enjoy the instant of digest access and the "club" feeling.

Well, all right, maybe only a facotr of two, but that's still too much.

(What do I have against Usenet?  Space limitations prevent me.)

Sorry, BArt, but I consider it a really poor alternative.

metlay

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Bart Massey writes:
>
> So, this list is pretty successful -- I'm seeing at least 40 messages a
> week, and no sign of a letup in sight.  Maybe it's time to make this thing a
> Usenet newsgroup, with an e-mail gateway for those people without Usenet
> access?  It would be a feature, from my point of view, to be able to use the
> news interface, and I don't foresee any major objections from the net.
> 'rec.games.traveller'?  'rec.games.frp.traveller'?  Any encouragement or
> flames?  James, what do *you* think?
>
There does seem to be enough traffic to justify a newsgroup.  And I agree
that the news interface would be a great feature.  So, I would vote in
favor of a rec.games.traveller group.

Would we eliminate the mailing list if this happened?  Are there some
discussions that are more appropriate on a mailing list?


        Ron Abramson   email: [email removed]


All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Submissions: [email removed], or [email removed]
Administrator: [email removed] (James Perkins)
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     I'm responding to two postings at once here, in order to save
some effort.  I'd like to add an informed opinion here (I'll put my
qualifications at the end).

 In message: [email removed] Bart Massey writes:
 >
 >So, this list is pretty successful -- I'm seeing at least 40 messages a
 >week, and no sign of a letup in sight.  Maybe it's time to make this thing a
 >Usenet newsgroup,
 > [...]

     An understandable question.  Not surprising, either.  Not altogether
desirable, either, IMHO.


 In message: [email removed] Metlay writes:
 >
 >This is a dissenting opinion. On Usenet, the bandwidth would instantly
 >multiply by a factor of ten, and

     Not quite that bad, but it *would* be ugly.

 >(a) if James were moderating things he'd be buried

     Yes!  He certainly would.  Also, if he was moderating a public
newsgroup as opposed to a mailing list, his support would go to hell.
Sure, *we'd* still be there, but there'd always be some twit who'd
decide to aim some snide commentary at James just because something
didn't suit *him*.  Nobody needs that.  Trust me.  I know.

 >(b) if James weren't moderating things this group wouldn't be worth reading.

     Yup.  This is quite true.

     As I said, I know.  I know from my own *personal* experience.  A
couple of years ago, I was a newsgroup moderator.  I (along with two
others) moderated the sources and binaries groups for the Amiga.  I was
the one who usually got to deal with the mail, in addition to testing
and posting the software.  From what I read, it seemed to be impossible
to please *anyone*.  It wasn't that bad, but moderating a low-traffic
group like comp.sources.amiga took a *lot* of work.  The amount of work
James would have to put in if he were moderating this as a newsgroup
would be at least an order of magnitude worse.  Eventually, we (my co-
moderators and I) had to drop it due to lack of time, and we were
working for a *university*.  James has a real job (hence, less time).

     Bottom line?  I agree with Metlay.  Keep this as a mailing list.
Look on the bright side...  Mail doesn't expire like news postings, so
if you're gone for a while, you won't miss anything, eh?


- --
     Brent

INTERNET:  [email removed]           /  [email removed]
USENET:  [email removed]
FIDONET:  [email removed]                           (from Internet)  or
          Brent Woods@1:201/40.303  (from FidoNet)
[address removed]
PHONE:  [phone removed] (voice)


All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Submissions: [email removed], or [email removed]
Administrator: [email removed] (James Perkins)
The TML is made possible by facilities provided by Tektronix, Inc.

I have to agree with metlay and Brent about turning TML into a moderated
Usenet Newsgroup.  The amount of background noise that would induce would
make it unreadable.  Also, I very much like the "club" feeling (mentioned
earlier) that being a part of TML gives us.  And finally, my own workload
sometimes prevents me from reading News for weeks at a time, so I might
miss something.  But there's always time for E-Mail :-).

        "Look.  All of this talking is getting us nowhere!  I think we
         should try a more direct approach."

        "MY GOD!!  THAT'S A HAND GRENADE!!"

        "Right.  It's faster than imperial arbitration, and it hurts less."


        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        [address removed]

INTERNET: [email removed]
UUCP:     {cmcl2, harpo, hplabs, rice, tektronix}!hp-pcd!markc

All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Submissions: [email removed], or [email removed]
Administrator: [email removed] (James Perkins)
The TML is made possible by facilities provided by Tektronix, Inc.