Asri-unix.429 net.news utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!knutsen Tue Jan 5 17:46:42 1982 USENET policy I was involved in a discussion about USENET policy awhile ago, and wrote the following message. My bandwidth was limited (long distance phone call) while the current discussion evolved, but Id like to submit this now that Ive caught up. Also, re {net, fa}.unix-wizards: the reason for the change was that the group was restructured to resemble a net. rather than fa. group, in that it can be replied to directly. We implemented a gateway here to do the "right thing"(?). However the list is still moderated on the arpa side, which can be confusing. Date: 15 Dec 1981 at 1522-PST From: Andrew Knutsen Subject: Re: read-only newsgroups (net.news cbosg.193) What I would really like is to work out methods that would allow as free a flow of information as possible. Some of the problem with lack of control we have now (ie either too many newsgroups/lists or too many messages on one list) may be solvable by implementing new tools and conventions, without resorting to brute force. I believe that there are limits to how much the group of users on one machine can store and comprehend, and that we ought to try to have this be what moderates groups (along with a certain amount of peer-pressure to keep the quality up). Something more along the lines of democracy or physical law than dictatorship, anarchy or even socialism. Some suggestions: Make it easier to flush a newsgroup. Create methods of merging/dividing existing groups. Let old unused groups die naturally (automatically). Have a way to let a question-asker moderate his question, by collecting answers and reporting back. Make it easier to find an appropriate group (like "apropos"... this probably involves keeping a directory with descriptions). Implement some voting scheme for answering questions (like "should this group be flushed/created?"). ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.