Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 20:43:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Network Coordinator <nc@ain.charm.net> To: Jeffrey Hsu <hsu@freefall.cdrom.com> Cc: roberto@blaise.ibp.fr, hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Gating hackers into the newsgroups Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.950424203821.24219D-100000@ain.charm.net> In-Reply-To: <199504241904.MAA12947@freefall.cdrom.com>
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On Mon, 24 Apr 1995, Jeffrey Hsu wrote: > Many Linux friends I know have > stopped reading the *linux newsgroups because of the S/N ratio. > > Many FreeBSD friends I know have stopped reading the FreeBSD lists because > of the S/N ratio and the sheer volume of mail. This includes dedicated > FreeBSD diehards. Certainly, I no longer tell anyone new to subscribe to > the FreeBSD mailing lists, because I know the volume will overwhelm them. > When old members have to unsubscribe to the mailing lists and new members > can't join, then you know something is definitely wrong. The current > mailing list status quo is untenable. > I think its important to increase the newsgroup traffic presense on the net. In terms of volume, some happy level will be achieved, but in general with threading in newsgroups, it would be much easier to follow what is going on. The only problem would be cross-posting between newsgroups and listserv. The only reason I think its so important all of a sudden is that I was just hired as a consultant on a technical proposal paper comparing an installation of free unix' on intel machines. The original commitee determined that Linux had a better (not necessarily _more_) support simply because there were more news groups carried on the one NNTP server they were using. I showed them my 6 megs of listserv traffic from the last two or so weeks and changed their mind. "Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean its there." The only problem I can see with increasing the popularity of FreeBSD worldwide is that this friendly-repoire with the core team members [i.e. we hear what they hear, see what they see, and find out whats happening directly from their keyboard] might disappear if suddenly 100x more people start flooding the newsgroups or list server. Maybe I'm a doom and gloom type. -Jerry.
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