Re: [MacPerl] Usenet: comp.lang.perl.mac ... ?

[Matthias Ulrich Neeracher <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>]

I think this debate is, once more, at the end of its usefulness, so I'll try to
grab one of the last words in it and will cut off further messages on this
topic in a few hours.

Reader friendliness
-------------------

I share the opinion that newsreaders are better suited to high volume
discussions than mail readers. However, it is often possibly to redirect
traffic. For instance, I read all the mailing lists that I subscribe to
via the Emacs-based gnus newsreader. Similar technology exists for the
Mac, as described in this thread.

Focus
-----

I've been responsible for turning a literate programming mailing list into
comp.programming.literate, and the resulting lack of focus was so catastrophic
that it almost destroyed the forum until the group was moderated a few weeks
ago. Focus is not only lost through spam as such, but more frequently through
people too lazy to find the right forum and simply crossposting everywhere.

Archiving
---------

It has been pointed out that a newsgroup has the advantage of being
automatically archived by dejanews. One method of getting a similar service is
through reference.com. They already provide a pointer to the mac-perl mailing
list and if there is sufficient interest, they might be willing to archive the
list.

Gateway
-------

I like the idea of providing a one-way gateway to NNTP, but I lack the time and
resources to set one up. Maybe Charles Bailey (who provides this service for
the much more crowded perl5-porters list) could be persuaded to run this
service.

Summary
-------

I oppose the creating of an unmoderated newsgroup for mac-perl, but would
support the creation of a moderated newsgroup (provided I have to take over
less than 20% of the moderator's workload). I will contact reference.com and
Charles to discuss ways of adding services to the mailing list.

Matthias

-----
Matthias Neeracher   <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>   http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri
       "You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun
        than you can with a kind word alone." -- Al Capone





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