Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2(pesnta.1.3) 9/5/84; site epicen.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!phri!pesnta!epicen!jbuck From: jbuck@epicen.UUCP (Joe Buck) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.flame Subject: Re: Feminist SF -- ARGHHHHHHHH! Not again! Message-ID: <252@epicen.UUCP> Date: Wed, 30-Oct-85 01:46:12 EST Article-I.D.: epicen.252 Posted: Wed Oct 30 01:46:12 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 09:06:07 EST References: <710@dcl-cs.UUCP> Reply-To: jbuck@epicen.UUCP (Joe Buck) Organization: Entropic Processing, Inc., Cupertino, CA Lines: 49 Xref: linus net.sf-lovers:9774 net.flame:11629 Summary: Because of net propogation delays, we see the same answer to the same question for weeks on end. In article <710@dcl-cs.UUCP> jam@dcl-cs.UUCP (John A. Mariani) writes: >>From: mooremj@eglin-vax >> >>Let me be the Nth to point out that both Tiptree and Norton are female. >No I don't think we should let you be the Nth person to point out that >both Tiptree and Norton are female. >>From: nancy@MIT-HTVAX.ARPA >> >>[yet another sucker] > >Yes, you are right .. you weren't the only person to say this... >Why is it that you went ahead anyway? Don't posters to sf-lovers ever read >other people's articles? >{If there is some tecnhical reason for this multi-answer phenomena .. >which I have commented on before .. please point this out to me!} Well, there are two basic problems. The first is that the Usenet portion of sf-lovers has long propogation delays between various points, so different areas of the net see messages at different times and in different orders. So normally it's a waste of time flaming people for answering a question that's already been answered, because the responses crossed each other on the net. Still, I'd like to know what mooremj@eglin-vax's excuse is. He/she knew, when posting his/her response, that a flood of messages was already out there. Here are some suggestions to improve things: First, there should be a lot less "me too" postings (long inclusions that say "I agree" or "Yes, she's right"). There are too many of us for that. Questions should be answered by mail. If the person is on the other side of the UUCP/ARPA divide from you, before posting because you don't know how to mail, ask yourself if you really are the only person who knows the answer to the question before posting "I couldn't mail this, so...". Finally, if you see a lot of answers to the same question, just wait a few days. They'll die down eventually. If someone has made a mistake, correct them by mail if possible. In this case, a lot of suckers fell for a joke and humiliated themselves in front of the net. In others, it's the original poster that's humiliated. It's better to see a single message saying "Several people have pointed out that I'm wrong" than to have someone flamed from one end of the net to the other for weeks, as we see now. -- Joe Buck | Entropic Processing, Inc. UUCP: {ucbvax,ihnp4}!dual!epicen!jbuck | 10011 N. Foothill Blvd. ARPA: dual!epicen!jbuck@BERKELEY.ARPA | Cupertino, CA 95014