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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!cbosgd!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!nsc!chuqui
From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (The Phantom)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: net overload-- comments and suggestions
Message-ID: <2429@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-Mar-85 13:49:27 EST
Article-I.D.: nsc.2429
Posted: Mon Mar  4 13:49:27 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Mar-85 03:06:39 EST
References: <2404@nsc.UUCP> <49@decvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (The Phantom)
Organization: The Paradise
Lines: 39
Summary: 

In article <49@decvax.UUCP> minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) writes:
>Since, with readnews, you can unsubscribe by a single keystroke,
>the existance of many groups shouldn't be seen as a problem
>(unless you try to read everything) -- assuming that discussions
>stay reasonably localized.

Martin has, unfortunately, misinterpreted my comment. My reasons for
compacting the naming space are centered on reducing the complexities and
ambiguities for the POSTER, not the reader. As he says, it is trivial to
unsubscribe to to groups you don't want to read.

The problem comes in when you want to post something. Many users,
especially the newer ones, are treated to a wide range of overlapping,
non-mnemonic, ambiguous, and generally misnamed groups to choose from. In
many cases their solution is to simply post to all possible groups, either
together or (sigh) separately. My hope is to work out an improved naming
space that cleans up a lot of the problems of the existing one and makes it
easier to figure out the 'correct' places to post something. The biggest
problems we have on the net are not with the readers but with the posters,
and a lot of the problem is simple confusion. I'd like to remove some of
that confusion.

I should point out that I have gotten a lot of mail on the naming space
compaction, and many people are worried that I'm going to hack and burn my
way down to 10 or 15 groups. I may have well have implied that, but it is
not my intention-- chalk it up to less than clear writing. I expect to see
a lot of re-arranging and renaming, and some compaction, but I don't see
wholesale slaughter of existing groups-- if it serves a purpose, it ought
to be there. Overcompacting the naming space solves a lot of usenet's
problems-- unfortunately it would simply create a lot of new problems we
wouldn't have the experience to solve. I'd rather work with the problems
I'm familiar with, thank you.

chuq
-- 
From behind the eight ball:                       Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui   nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA

We'll be recording at the Paradise Friday night. Live, on the Death label.