Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site amdcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!amdcad!phil From: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: summarizing for the net Message-ID: <5680@amdcad.UUCP> Date: Sat, 2-Nov-85 13:07:23 EST Article-I.D.: amdcad.5680 Posted: Sat Nov 2 13:07:23 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 08:50:01 EST Organization: AMDCAD, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 22 Keywords: summarys moderation Have you ever seen someone posting a question on the net receive 20 or 30 followups to the effect of "ha ha you fool, James Tiptree *is* a woman"? I know I have. Less common is for someone to post a question and request replies by mail only, which will be summarized. But it does happen. And when it does, the signal to noise ratio is very high. I wish more people would summarize. What this leads to is viewing the summary process as a kind of mini mod group with the moderator being the original requester. A very specific interest area is defined, and people *mail* their input. Then the "moderator" eliminates duplicates and posts. And I think it works well. Perhaps if people thought of mod groups as being analogous to summarys there would be less resistance and fear of censorship. -- The number of California lottery tickets sold is greater than the number of people in the United States of America. Phil Ngai +1 408 749-5720 UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra}!amdcad!phil ARPA: amdcad!phil@decwrl.dec.com