From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:ARPAVAX:CAD:teklabs!ogcvax!root
Newsgroups: net.news
Title: Keywords vs. Newsgroups
Article-I.D.: ogcvax.118
Posted: Tue Jun 15 14:53:36 1982
Received: Fri Jun 18 03:03:45 1982

   I predict that a keyword system to replace the current newsgroup
system would fail miserably.  Take a look at the Subject: field of some
articles now posted -- some are blank, and many give little clue as to
what an article contains.  (Incidentally, this is why "just type n" is
not a counter to the garbage frequently posted, as some have offered.)
   If users won't give a useful Subject: field, can they be expected to
include useful keywords?

   I feel that more discipline or control over the creation and use of
newsgroups would do much more good than eliminating them.  Newsgroups
give a mechanism to eliminate traffic between sites of entire
categories of garbage, something that would be difficult to do with a
keyword system.

	Bruce Jerrick
	...teklabs!ogcvax!bruce
	Oregon Graduate Center