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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84 chuqui version 1.7 9/23/84; site nsc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!wjh12!harvard!seismo!nsc!chuqui
From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Zonker T. Chuqui)
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: Re: na.forsale
Message-ID: <1711@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Oct-84 01:58:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: nsc.1711
Posted: Fri Oct 26 01:58:41 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Oct-84 04:30:55 EDT
References: <10468@gatech.UUCP> <6103@mcvax.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: The Warlocks Cave, Castrovalva
Lines: 49

> > be deleted and replaced by "net.forsale".  The arguement here is that people
> > shoud restrict the distribution themselves.  Furthermore, sites in Europe
> > and Asia can simply not have the group sent to them, thus achieving the same
> > goal as the "na" part of the group.
> 
> Why does it bother anyone that it's called na.forsale? It seems to me a good
> idea because it explicitely states its maximum distribution; no one gets the
> idea that it also goes to net.
> 
> Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; steven@mcvax

I have to argue FOR na.forsale. Reasons:

	(1) the track record shows that people DON'T restrict the
	distribution themselves. I see no real short term change in these
	attitudes, either.

	(2) Europe has restricted itself from some groups that it might
	otherwise have wanted because of the amount of 'garbage' in it from
	their point of view. I don't know offhand if they are getting
	net.general or not right now, but there were long discussions about
	it because of the stuff in net.general that simply wasn't
	applicable to them (a lot of it should now be in na.forsale...)

	(3) when the 'net' groups were created, usenet was a US (and
	possibly canadian) phenomena. It has grown and changed
	significantly. The local groups (you should see ba and ca.politics
	right now) have shown that regionalizing works, and works well.
	I don't think many people in New York would particularly care about
	our propositions, anyway. 

My personal feeling is that the 'net' distribution is obsolete and that
all of the existing groups should be renamed to show their appropriate
distribution, whether it is world, na, or usa. Of course, reality makes
that impossible, so I'm NOT suggesting it. I DO think that all new
groups should have their reasonable distribution considered and used. If it
doesn't go to Europe, don't fool people into thinking it will by using net,
use na or usa instead. Just because we've always done something some way
doesn't mean we should continue that into the future-- remember, someone
was once the FIRST usenet site. Where would we be today if they had been
satisfied with keeping it local?

chuq

-- 
From the Department of Bistromatics:                   Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,decwrl,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui  nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA

  I'd know those eyes from a million years away....