Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!homxb!mtuxo!mtune!mtunb!dmt From: dmt@mtunb.ATT.COM (Dave Tutelman) Newsgroups: comp.sources.d Subject: Moderated lists - just say "no" Message-ID: <1133@mtunb.ATT.COM> Date: Wed, 18-Nov-87 17:48:17 EST Article-I.D.: mtunb.1133 Posted: Wed Nov 18 17:48:17 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 22-Nov-87 13:57:26 EST Organization: AT&T Information Systems - Lincroft, NJ Lines: 58 Well, after my most recent experience, I think I'll not post any more to comp.source.misc, or at least not as long as it's moderated. My complaint isn't with Brandon; he's doing the job as well as it can be done. My tale of minor horror would have occurred as long as ANY moderator were in Brandon's shoes. Here's the story: I had an opportunity to post a program that would be of use to readers of some newsgroup. (In this case, it was misc.wanted, but next month I'll have a program for rec.bicycle so it's not an isolated case.) Since it was neither a major program nor a UNIX program, it seemed like a good idea to post to comp.sources.misc. What I did (hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time :-) was to: - Post a shar of the source to comp.sources.misc. This was already over 50K; couldn't add the executable for those without TPascal. Therefore, label it Par 1 of 2, and.... - Post a uuencoded arc of the MS-DOS executable as part 2 of 2 to comp.sources.misc. - Post an announcement of the availablility of the program to misc.wanted, where the request first appeared and the discussion was taking place. The result of this seemingly reasonable act was: - The announcement appeared immediately in misc.wanted. - Since comp.sources.misc is moderated, it was a week before the ammounced program appeared. Lots of Email in my box of the form "I didn't see it; where is it?" - Source is posted, labeled "Part 1 of 2", as I had titled it, together with a note from Brandon saying that the executable would be posted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc. More mail in my box from people not realizing that Part 2 was the aforementioned executable: "I missed Part 2; could you send it." - You may remember that Brandon was having trouble convincing his mailer that comp.binaries.ibm.pc existed. Thus it is a week later that executable appears in comp.binaries.ibm.pc, labeled "Part 2 of 2". More mail: "I missed Part 1; could you send it." Thus three closely related postings appeared over three newsgroups (I had only intended 2) over the space of almost three weeks. The rules were followed perfectly, and their application had removed much of the value of the posting and confused a lot of people. NEXT TIME, I'll "just say no" to moderation, and post the whole thing in the relevant newsgroup (misc.wanted or rec.bicycles). Any flames about the appropriateness of putting programs in those newsgroups will go straight to ramdisk to be read next week :-) +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Dave Tutelman | | Physical - AT&T - Lincroft, NJ | | Logical - ...ihnp4!mtuxo!mtunb!dmt | | Audible - (201) 576 2442 | +---------------------------------------------------------------+