From: rjung@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Divide this Group
Date: 7 Sep 1992 10:39:10 -0700
Organization: Southern California Lynx Enthusiasts
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <1cqnl1-.bskendig@netcom.com> bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig) writes:
>rjung@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung) wrote (in article <lalukhINN2m4@aludra.usc.edu>):
>>[Stuff about splitting rec.games.video, continued...]
>>
>>        (1) Some people LIKE to read about every game system out there.
>>        The biggest incentive for a by-system split is so owners of machine
>>        A don't have to read about news for machine B. Wouldn't a kill file
>>        be sufficient?
>
>Well, I'm interested in Atari Lynx and Super Nintendo news, and I
>couldn't care less about the Genesis or Neo-Geo or others (and I don't
>even own a SNES (yet)).

  Well, I'm in a similar boat -- I own a Lynx, an NES (yes, the original), and
a Sega Genesis.

>A killfile isn't useful unless everyone includes the name of a system
>in the title of their post, is it?

  Yes. That would be a step in the right direction. I believe
rec.arts.tv.soaps does something similar, using acronyms for the soaps in the
headers of messages, so people who don't want to read about "All My Children"
don't have to.

  Of course, saying (or typing, in this case) is easier than doing...

>I like the idea of split
>newsgroups -- if somebody wants to read about all the systems, he
>could subscribe to all the videogame newsgroups.

  What about non-system specific threads? Like "Too many games are derivatives
of each other today", or "Should we split r.g.v."? Mondo major crossposting?

>>        (2) The USENET gods don't like creating "popular theme of the year"
>>        newsgroups (hence no rec.arts.tv.ren-n-stimpy). Let's face the
>>        music: neither the Genesis nor the SNES will be around in ten years'
>>        time, and by then rec.arts.video.snes will be a wasted subdirectory.
>>        Why create a newsgroup with a known limited lifespan?
>
>Well, we could create alt groups; alt.games.lynx already exists...
>Am I missing something here, or it it not really a big thing to just
>create a bunch of alt groups for the various systems and use them
>instead of r.g.v?

  Only problem with an alt.* group is that a lot of other sites do not get
the alt.* hierarchy, for various reasons. If we nuked rec.games.video and
used alt.games.*, we'd lose a good portion of the readership.

>Besides, ten years is an awfully long time -- and look at the number
>of Atari 2600 postings that still come through here!  Look even at
>newsgroups like comp.sys.cbm that still putter along.  If after five
>years a system has _completely_ died out, then the newsgroup can be
>rmgroup'ed, easy as pie.

  Firstly, I'm not sure that a group can be "rmgroup'ed, easy as pie".
Depending on who you talk to, removing a non-alt.*-group can be a pretty
painful process. The unofficial policiy is that it's easier not to create a
problem group than it is to remove a dead group later in the future.

  Secondly, who's going to REMEMBER that rec.games.video.genesis is a dead
group five years later, when nobody owns a Genesis any more? Nobody patrols
the newsgroups, to the best of my knowledge. This plan can lead to lots of
groups that die of inactivity and "fall through the cracks".

>Hmm?  Convenience is a Good Thing, imo.  ;) And besides, wouldn't a
>r.g.v split help people get to only the news about systems they want
>to read about, while not increasing the network load nor
>inconveniencing anyone?

  What about people who are shopping for a system, and don't know what's out
there? A by-system split helps those who are savvy about the market, but
leaves newcomers in the lurch. If someone was shopping for a home-console
system, he may stumble across rec.games.video.nintendo and
rec.games.video.sega, but might overlook rec.games.video.tti or
rec.games.video.neo, for instance...

                                                --R.J.
                                                B-)

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Newsgroups: rec.games.video