Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 SMI; site sun.uucp
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!decwrl!sun!gnu
From: gnu@sun.uucp (John Gilmore)
Newsgroups: net.news.b
Subject: Re: default Distribution: problem
Message-ID: <1899@sun.uucp>
Date: Mon, 24-Dec-84 22:50:10 EST
Article-I.D.: sun.1899
Posted: Mon Dec 24 22:50:10 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Dec-84 04:18:10 EST
References: <368@watcgl.UUCP> <77@daemon.UUCP> <465@watcgl.UUCP> <97@daemon.UUCP> <824@ru-cs44.UUCP> <609@munnari.OZ> <2033@Glacier.ARPA>
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 17

This default Distribution: business sure looks like a bug to me.
It seems to me that a site that receives "net.sources" is
receiving "net", just as a site that receives "net,!net.all" is
receiving "net".  Neither one is receiving all of "net", but that's
not the question we wanted answered -- the question is, are they
likely to be interested in a message distributed to the whole "net"
(or "usa" or "uk" or whatever) and in the newsgroup "net.sources",
and the answer is clearly yes.

I don't think that the default article template should include a
specific "Distribution:" line -- a blank one, maybe -- but even if
the user says "Distribution: net", we can do "the right thing"
by fixing it on the "Do I send this msg to this site?" end.

Let's not default any badly-understood features to "on" in the next
netnews release...