Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!umd5!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue.edu!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucdcsp!gillies From: gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Reducing Noise Message-ID: <76000073@uiucdcsp> Date: 14 Dec 87 18:46:00 GMT Lines: 26 Nf-ID: #N:uiucdcsp:76000073:000:1085 Nf-From: uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies Dec 14 12:46:00 1987 I have a suggestion for simplifying the flood of redundant mail in this newsgroup/notesfile EITHER (a) create "comp.sys.mac.surveys" -- opinion polls where people put out requests for information, and then summarize to the network. Maybe make this a moderated group. The net seems to be perennially flooded with questions like "I'm thinking of buying a hard disk. What kind should I get"? "What's a good communication program?" "Name a good mail-order house.." "What's a good price on SIMMS?" "Should I buy a Mac II or an SE? Why?" "What about non-apple Mac II monitors? Large Screen Displays?" Hopefully, this newsgroup can be archived longer at many sites. OR (b) maybe the really useful permanent info can be archived somewhere (on SUMEX or something?) At Xerox, they have an archive directory of "advice" (all the mass opinion polls on dentists, local car dealers, graphs of speeding tickets/yr v.s. avg driving speed, etc). This was a big help, and saved everyone a lot of time. Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois {gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu}