Path: utzoo!lsuc!ncrcan!ontenv!soley From: soley@ontenv.UUCP (Norman S. Soley) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: Map updates in news.config Message-ID: <676@ontenv.UUCP> Date: 12 Aug 88 12:44:34 GMT References: <670@ontenv.UUCP> <278@execu.UUCP> Organization: Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto Lines: 65 Well I guess I put my foot in something. I've been roundly flamed for my posting on map updates in news.config. These have fallen essentially 3 catagories: Texans - by far the overwhelming majority of flames have come from Texans upset about the "I don't know what it is about Texans" remark I made. It was an attempt to be a flippant and joshing reference to the fact that most of the most obvious "offenders" are Texas based sites and Yes I should have had a :-) in there. To those who calmly pointed out that this was unecessary and bigotted I apologize, you're right. To those who responded with similar counter attacks on Canadians ... "what business do you have telling me or anyone else what to do" flames. I made no attempt to tell anyone what to do. I, as a member of a community (USENET), raised my concern over something that I view as a problem, to that community, for the community to discuss. Defence (rational and otherwise) of map updates in news.config. Many presented interesting views and perceptions and so far they're about 50/50 divided between agreeing and disagreeing with me. The dissenting staements basically boil down to: "You may not be interested in timely information but I am, the maps don't provide that" I am interested in timely information provided it is accurate and presented in a useable form as efficiently as is reasonable. But these posings simply do not serve that aim. In my own defence an couple examples: When killer went off the net a while ago there was a flurry of activity when all these sites posted their map entries with killer marked (DEAD) then when it came back another round of postings. It would have been much easier to post a "killer is dead please do a -d killer on your next pathalias run" When new sites pop up they post an entry in news.newsites, good, this is useful information, in the right place. The way Pathalias works it is not necessary for feed sites to post a new entry right away, valid paths will get generated. I've seen a number of these things posted twice because there was a spelling or typing mistake the first time. One of them today. It's a rare month that I don't receive some interm map updates for some areas. Texas's map co-ordinator in particular publishes map updates quite frequently. I've been pleased with the job these under-appreciated volunteers do. -- Norman Soley - Data Communications Analyst - Ontario Ministry of the Environment UUCP: utgpu!ontmoh!------------\ VOICE: +1 416 323 2623 {attcan,utzoo}!lsuc!ncrcan!ontenv!norm "witty saying not available due to writers strike"