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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