Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!mit-eddi!smh
From: smh@mit-eddi.UUCP (Steven M. Haflich)
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: Re: UN*X-neophytes
Message-ID: <230@mit-eddi.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jun-83 21:21:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.230
Posted: Wed Jun  8 21:21:15 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jun-83 05:33:22 EDT
References: ut-ngp.334
Lines: 34


	I think all this discussion about a Unix neophytes group
is somewhat missing the real problem.  The Usenet is used for many
kinds of messages, but a useful taxonomy is to divide items:
1) General broadcasts, either supplying or requesting information,
   but which the author really wants *everyone* on the net to see.
2) Requests for some simple information, a single reply to which
   will satisfy the original author.
Clearly, requests for survey information (e.g. "Everybody tell me
about your experience with United Frobulator tape punches, and I'll
summarize to the net") want general distribution and are type (1).
Other requests (e.g. "Does anybody know why my 4.1c United Frobulator
device driver won't rewind past reflective markers?") are type (2) and
can frequently be answer by wizards within a few net hops, unless
the question is absurdly esoteric.  The important point here is that,
at least very often, the author KNOWS he will likely get an answer
within a few hops, yet the query slowly trickles over about 500
net connections at great expense and wasting 5000 programmer's
time.  Unix-neophyte questions are the most concentrated source of
such queries -- but clearly the problem is more general.

I don't have a very good solution for the problem, alas.  The only
mechanism in place is the collection of local nets (e.g. ne.general)
which effectively limit distribution.  Alternatively, a `hop count
limit' could be added to the news software, but we all know how hard
it is to propagate such news system changes, and anyway, most users
would not take the extra effort to specify such a distribution limit.

Perhaps this aspect can be chewed around a little.  At the very least,
for areas with well-defined local nets, unix-neophyte or some such
groupname could be translated into a local group (either ne.general,
ne.wanted, or ne.unix-wizards, etc.), and we could see how it works?

	Steve Haflich, genrad!mit-eddie!smh