Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ut-sally.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!ut-sally!riddle From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) Newsgroups: net.news,net.followup Subject: Newsgroup subject database (Re: net overload) Message-ID: <1192@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Mar-85 12:06:22 EST Article-I.D.: ut-sally.1192 Posted: Fri Mar 1 12:06:22 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Mar-85 03:20:38 EST References: <2404@nsc.UUCP> <3429@alice.UUCP> Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills Lines: 27 Xref: watmath net.news:3209 net.followup:4578 Regarding one of jj's suggestions: > 2) There MUST be a database of ALL newsgroups. The first > message in every new group should state what that group isintended > for. The complete collection of all such articles should be available > on line, and outside of postnews, for the interested to peruse. I think that this is a good idea. In the meantime, though, a small step in that direction is already available: Gene Spafford's "List of Active Newsgroups", which is regularly posted to net.news.group and mod.newslists. Admittedly, most novice and ignorant users don't read net.news.group or mod.newslists, so here at ut-sally we've made things easier for them: we've added a small hack to vnews that prominently displays the description from the list as each newsgroup comes up in a session of reading news. A shell script automatically grabs Spaf's list as it arrives on our system every two weeks and installs it in a file for vnews to find. Since the descriptions can be multi-line, we've added warnings for the problematic newsgroups like net.sources and net.general; new Usenetters on sally no longer have an excuse for confusing them with net.wanted.sources and net.misc. Rumor has it that the next release of news software (2.10.3, I suppose) will include the newsgroup description hack. So keep your eyes peeled... --- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.") --- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle --- riddle@ut-sally.UUCP, riddle@ut-sally.ARPA, riddle%zotz@ut-sally