On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Gary Dale wrote:
> Maybe I should, but Milt Epstein is correct in that it would be
> presumptious of someone who is not a regular on this listserve to
> try to make major changes to it.
Actually this brings up an issue: What constitutes being a "regular"
on this list, and how many are there? And how does that affect the
problems on the list and what should be done about them? I think by
the nature of the list, many people are very transient on it --
e.g. they come here to get their configuration problems solved, and
once they do they're gone (nothing wrong with that, BTW). I've been
on it for several months, and although there are many names I
recognize as regulars, I've also seen a lot of people come and go.
> I'll follow your advice about reading up on the process anyway. I've
> gotten into the habit of checking newsgroups for answers first
> anyway, and I'd hate to change this late in life. Of course, I had a
> difficult time finding comp.infosystems.www... as a source of
> information on Apache, but since that seems to be the prefered
> location instead of just comp.www, for example, I suppose it's best
> to leave it at that.
Note the distinction between "Big Eight" newsgroups (of which comp.*
is one), and others, such as alt. The procedures for getting a Big
Eight newsgroup started are more rigid, getting an alt group started
is relatively easy. But Big Eight newsgroups are more widespread, and
considered more "legitimate"/"serious". As to existing apache
newsgroups, I could only find one, alt.apache.configuration (that
seems surprising, considering apache is by far the most commonly used
server).
And FWIW, someone just recently went through the process of trying to
create two new "server" related newsgroups in the comp.lang.java.*
hierarchy (comp.lang.java.server-side, comp.lang.java.servlet were the
names). Unfortunately, that failed. It was quite close, and if more
people had voted, it probably would've passed.
> Will England wrote:
>
> >Good points.
> >
> >1) Google now has Usenet reading and posting. Anyone with port 80 and a
> >GUI browser can read / post to Usenet.
> >
> >2) So, Gary, are you going to read the FAQ about creating a newsgroup and
> >hold the vote? All you have to do is post a RFD, wait, post a CFV, wait,
> >count the votes and then (assuming it's approved), get one of the
> >newsadmins to start the group.
> >
> >It's all there in news.anwers
Milt Epstein
Research Programmer
Software/Systems Development Group
Computing and Communications Services Office (CCSO)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
