HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg)
Subject: Re: alt.fan.cows
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:04:00 GMT
Organization: TC Telemanagement, Clearwater, FL

According to gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl):
>You also seriously overestimate your importance in the universe, much
>less my personal universe.

Likewise, I'm sure.

Greg, isn't there some UNIX group you need to resurrect or something?
-- 
Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT  <chip@tct.com>, <73717.366@compuserve.com>
  "you make me want to break the laws of time and space / you make me
   want to eat pork / you make me want to staple bagels to my face /
   and remove them with a pitchfork" -- Weird Al Yankovic, "You Make Me"
Newsgroups: alt.config,rec.humor.d
From: tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood)
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: "Alt.fan" considered less than optimal (NOT!)
Date: 4 Jan 93 21:02:34 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <43023@sdcc12.ucsd.edu>, pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins) writes:

> 5) It's actually WRONG. Ideally, the only groups with ".fan" in the
> title would be things like "alt.fan.bruce-becker" and
> "alt.fan.warlord", where there IS a purpose (albeit sarcastic) for
> it to be there.

But what about alt.brother-jed?  Notice it's NOT "alt.FAN.brother-jed",
because not only is this group NOT for fans of brother-jed, but changing
the group to an "alt.fan" group would ruin the abbreviation "a.b-j", (which
causes our favorite campus preacher to see red).

I would ask, nay DEMAND, that all non-fan groups be REQUIRED to have the
"NOT!" modifier placed at the end of the name of the group.  Let's start
with "alt.config.NOT!" to set a good example.


> 6) I don't like it. Nuff said.

Sorry, that only works for CHIP! ;-)

Terry "You're Required!- The ANTI-kibology" Wood
Newsgroups: alt.config
From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: Re: "Alt.fan" considered less than optimal
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 21:06:52 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.165505.15993@rei.com> fox@rei.com (Fuzzy Fox) writes:
>jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr) writes:
>
>>You're right. It should have been alt.in-joke.lemurs.
>
>In-jokes are more appropriate in mailing lists or local newsgroups,
>where they can be better appreciated by the people in on the joke.
>

Then let's immediately create a "Fuzzy Fox" mailing list so you can
reserve your infinite wit and wisdom to those who give a damn, wadboy.


Newsgroups: alt.config
From: nadeau@bnr.ca (Rheal Nadeau)
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL: alt.fan.babak-sehari
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 03:07:17 GMT

In article <CGD.93Jan6181531@stinson.CS.Berkeley.EDU> cgd@stinson.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Chris G. Demetriou) writes:
>i proposet alt.fan.babak-sehari
>
>why?
>
>because anyone with the guts to try to post something like the following,
>automatically, to every newsgroup they have access to deserves a fan club!

Nah, let's stick to a mailing list.  A hate-mailing list.  (By now, Babak
must be building up an impressive collection . . .)

       The Rhealist - nadeau@bnr.ca - Speaking only for myself
Newsgroups: alt.config,rec.humor.d
From: jc@gmd.de (Juergen Christoffel)
Subject: Re: alt.fan.cows
Reply-To: jc@gmd.de
Organization: GMD, Sankt Augustin, Germany
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 10:18:11 GMT

In <1992Dec31.195418.28266@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr) writes:

>It's a JOKE.  Just as the 100k files of "cow art" are meant to be funny
>when they get posted to the net.

Oh, thanks for telling us. You intended to be humorous, not just
boring.  Must be the same kind of humor which made you post e.g. the
100k of logs to news.admin.policy inapropriate (not to mention the
crosspost to about a dozen other groups) some days ago? You surely
struggled hard enough in 1992 to become some kind of net.personality.

I'd be ready to support alt.fan.joel-furr on our machines. But Ellen's
idea to put "nyx" into a category with "zuma," "feline" and "tygra"
seems much more fun. Though a simple kill file will do for now.

Maybe news.admins have a different kind of humor?
-- 
  Jrgen Christoffel, GMD-I8, jc@gmd.de, (++49 2241) 14-2421
  GMD (German National Research Center for Computer Science)
Newsgroups: alt.config
From: c_mcdon@pavo.concordia.ca (MCDONNELL, CATHERINE)
Subject: Re: Proposal for new alt newsgroup: alt.fan.wodehouse
Followup-To: alt.config
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Concordia University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 23:48:00 GMT

In article <C0rJ3u.GBM@news2.cis.umn.edu>, rao@moose.cccs.umn.edu writes...
> 
>I humbly propose the creation of a new alt newsgroup:
> 
>	alt.fan.wodehouse
> 
>If you are in favour of this newsgroup, one of the issues you might want to
>consider is: alt.fan.wodehouse or alt.fan.pgwodehouse (I somehow think
>alt.fan.SirPelhamGrenvilleWodehouse would be frowned upon :-)

I vote for alt.drones, if not alt.eggs.beans.crumpets.


Kate
Newsgroups: alt.config
From: gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Subject: Re: alt.fan.cows
Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 23:01:42 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.144328.1821@msdhsv.ingr.com> foxx@foxxjac.b17a.ingr.com writes:

>Maybe it was their cow? :-)

Actually, I'm a vegetarian and prefer horses to cows.

Now Joel can accuse me of conflict of interest. But that's OK -- Chip
crawled out from underneath his rock to try to beat Joel out for the
"most boring" title... this ought to be interesting. Not. Where's that
killfile?


Newsgroups: alt.config,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
From: gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL FOR NEW NEWSGROUP: alt.games.vga.planets
Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 00:02:00 GMT

In article <C0nEAM.2tx@ccu.umanitoba.ca> roholdr@ccu.umanitoba.ca (R Ross Holder Jr) writes:

>It was drawn to my attention previously and has since become of concern to me
>(as I have taken an interest in the game as of late) that there is a desire
>to establish a newsgroup dedicated to the VGA Planets game

Why not just discussit on rec.games.pbm, which is a relatively
low-volume group that covers games of this type? There has already
been VGA Planets discussion there, and people who are introduced to
this form of gaming might like to learn about other games in the
group.
Newsgroups: alt.config
From: LIPSCOJA@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu (Andy Lipscomb)
Subject: Re: Colorado Ski Report
Organization: Vanderbilt University
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 03:33:10 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

In <C0KDBx.3qE@unix.amherst.edu> twpierce@unix.amherst.edu writes:

> Followups from a ridiculous assortment of newsgroups to alt.config.
> 
> In article <1993Jan9.011106.15234@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> aburt@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (Andrew Burt) writes:
> 
> >Since co.politics.amend2.info isn't carried as widely as it could be
> >(since most sites outside the state have no interest in co.*), I'd like
> >to suggest the creation of alt.politics.colorado.amend2.  (talk.* might
> >be better, but I doubt we want to go through all the red tape to make a
> >talk group.)
> 
> Give me a good reason not to alias it to alt.politics.homosexuality,
> which is doing a marvelous job of soaking up the Amendment 2 runoff.

I don't know about that, since a.p.h might object to pro-2 postings.  I would
suggest that if it is to be aliased, a.p.correct is a better choice (we have
posters from both sides).

> In any case, a better choice would be alt.current-events.amend2,
> although still better would be something in us.*.

Agreed.  (Except that us has low propagation; how 'bout a.c-e.us.a2?

  |
--+-- Andy Lipscomb
  |   lipscoja@(ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu,vuctrvax.bitnet)
  |   Don't blame me, I voted Libertarian.
Newsgroups: alt.config
From: jef@netcom.com (Jef Poskanzer)
Subject: Re: alt.ascii-art
X-Face: uPIE),q]+zmF49L%(pdE;nX/8$/J22&&&C@_)8BouYx42Y--?*,\]*MIeTY#mCM(x>FyD@+0D-Jm]S_8lxop(Q-$L#~b8!ha;eF[b+GOLyu<]4$">NeVymJ@F#M?1O`ue4,h4`2S^KGjmP%no(d,:<Ur:+f6W8$J:'t9BxH
Reply-To: Jef Poskanzer <jef@netcom.com>
Organization: Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 05:24:51 GMT

twpierce@unix.amherst.edu (Tim Pierce):
}I'd suggest putting it under alt.binaries.  Although the posts in
}question are not exactly "binaries" in the traditional sense, they're
}more or less part of the same genre as the rest of the
}alt.binaries.pictures crowd and tend to take up inordinate amounts of
}space for questionable gain.

Nah, the sizes will be nowhere near binaries.* level.  Anything
that takes creativity to make is self-limiting, regardless of
how misguided you think that creativity is.
---
Jef

           Jef Poskanzer  jef@netcom.com  jef@well.sf.ca.us
        I've enjoyed just about as much of this as I can stand.
Newsgroups: alt.config,alt.fan.jay-maynard,talk.bizarre,alt.religion.kibology,alt.folklore.urban
From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: Re: alt.sewer (Was: Re: Proposal: alt.answers)
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 16:50:55 GMT

In article <1659@blue.cis.pitt.edu> tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu writes:
>In article <1993Jan9.013940.16249@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr) writes:
>
>>>This is a lie.
>
>>>As is this.
>
>> Hey, forget all that.  The issue of whether Jonathon Kamens censored
>> articles in news.answers is irrelevant.  We're talking about a proposal
>> for alt.answers here, and it's obvious to ME that alt.answers is a bad
>> name for it.  Why, that would imply some kind of order in alt!
>
>> No, a far better name for a group which would contain FAQ articles about
>> various alt. groups would be 'alt.sewer'.  Descriptive, apropos, and
>> oh-so-timely.
>
>
>I think you have a point here. Since ALT is the uncontested "sewer" of the
>net, the group SHOULD be called "alt.sewer".  That's the first and foremost
>ANSWER that the group would drive home. ;-)
>
>Or we could call it "alt.shell" after the "Shell Oil ANSWER MAN" who used to
>advise "little women" on how to start their car and when to fill it up with
>gas.
>
>> Let's newgroup alt.sewer and appoint Kibo, Terry Chan, and Mark_Gooley the
>> co-moderators of it immediately.
>
>Kibo would tell you that "You're Allowed" to nominate him and Terry Chan would
>probably advise you to swallow a couple of Alkaseltzers.  I've never met
>"Mark_Gooley" (underscore required, I assume) so I can't be sure what he would
>think of this.

Twas a typo.  That should have been Mark. Gooley.

Kibo?  Terry?  Mark.?  Do you accept the co-moderatorship of alt.sewer?
Newsgroups: alt.config
From: jef@netcom.com (Jef Poskanzer)
Subject: Re: Proposal: alt.answers
X-Face: uPIE),q]+zmF49L%(pdE;nX/8$/J22&&&C@_)8BouYx42Y--?*,\]*MIeTY#mCM(x>FyD@+0D-Jm]S_8lxop(Q-$L#~b8!ha;eF[b+GOLyu<]4$">NeVymJ@F#M?1O`ue4,h4`2S^KGjmP%no(d,:<Ur:+f6W8$J:'t9BxH
Reply-To: Jef Poskanzer <jef@netcom.com>
Organization: Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 15:38:30 GMT

magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson):
}In article <1illhhINN5qc@flash.pax.tpa.com.au> dclunie@pax.tpa.com.au writes:
}>I feel very strongly that this group should NOT be moderated. I have no complaints
}>about Jonathan's moderation of the other groups, quite the converse, but an
}>unmoderated answers group is much more in keeping with the anarchist alt philosophy.
}>I know there will probably be a little bit of a problem with noisy replies and
}>questions, 
}
}"A little"? That must be the understatement of the year!
}
}>but these can easily be redirected with follow-ups to alt.answers.d.
}
}"Easily"? Get real! 

I repeat the third alternative: self-moderation, like alt.hackers.
---
Jef

           Jef Poskanzer  jef@netcom.com  jef@well.sf.ca.us
              If you've got the beer, I've got the time.
Newsgroups: alt.config,news.groups
From: twpierce@unix.amherst.edu (Tim Pierce)
Subject: Proposal: alt.answers
Followup-To: alt.config
Cc: jik@athena.mit.edu
Organization: Elitist Usenet Administrators, Stuff and Nonsense Division
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 07:07:06 GMT

Now that the proposed *.answers groups have passed their respective
votes, I propose that alt.answers be created to carry FAQs for alt.*
groups.  This group would (as with the other *.answers groups) be
moderated initially by Jonathan Kamens, a position probably to be
passed over to another moderator some time in the future.

If there are reasonable objections to this group, or if Jonathan does
not wish to moderate and no one is willing to moderate in his place, I
will not create it (or perhaps create it unmoderated).  If all goes
well, though, I shall send out the newgroup message shortly after the
newgroups for *.answers arrive at unix.amherst.edu.

Followups to alt.config.

-- 
____ Tim Pierce                / 
\  / twpierce@unix.amherst.edu /               Rocks say goodbye.
 \/ (BITnet: TWPIERCE@AMHERST) / 
Newsgroups: alt.config,comp.org.usenix
From: peter@sug.org (Peter Salus)
Subject: Re: New altgroup proposed: alt.fan.robbie.pink-tutu
Organization: The Sun User Group
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 20:20:00 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.193106.28227@news.eng.convex.com> tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen) writes:
>I propose the creation of the newsgroup:
>
>    alt.fan.robbie.pink-tutu
>
>The reason this newsgroup should be created is so that Rob Kolstad's
>innumerable fans can exchange useful and amusing information and anecdotes
>about him.  Related discussions on the proper color matching of tutus to
[31 lines deleted]

I think Tom's got a great idea here!  Those of us 
who were fans of the USENIX Synchronized Swim Team
(last seen in Atlanta in 1986) are unanimous in 
encouraging this group and the fan club.  

Peter
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter H. Salus	#3303	4 Longfellow Place
		Boston, MA 02114  USA 		  +1 617 723-3092
From: rahayden@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (R Andrew Hayden)
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL FOR NEW NEWSGROUP: alt.games.vga.planets
Date: 10 Jan 93 19:04:02 GMT
Organization: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

I too support this group.  This is the third call for a VGA Planets group
I have seen on alt.config and I think it is warranted.



-- 
]> And a rock feels no pain            + Robert Hayden                     <]
]> And an island never cries           +                                   <]
]>            -----                    +    rahayden@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu  <]
]>      Question Authority             +    aq650@slc4.INS.CWRU.Edu        <]
From: miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: Proposal for new alt newsgroup: alt.fan.wodehouse
Date: 12 Jan 93 18:22:49 CST
Followup-To: alt.config
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

In article <C0rJ3u.GBM@news2.cis.umn.edu>, rao@moose.cccs.umn.edu (Rao Akella) writes:

[...]

> If you are in favour of this newsgroup, one of the issues you might want to
> consider is: alt.fan.wodehouse or alt.fan.pgwodehouse (I somehow think
> alt.fan.SirPelhamGrenvilleWodehouse would be frowned upon :-)

Excellent idea!  How about alt.fan.plum?  Short & sweet...<groan>

> -- 
> Rao Akella, Research Assistant           Internet:   rao@moose.cccs.umn.edu
> Colon Cancer Control Study               Bitnet:     rao%moose@umnacvx
> University of Minnesota, Minneapolis     NIC Handle: RVA3
> 
> 	"To my daughter Leonora without whose never-failing sympathy and
> 	encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time."
> 			-- P.G. Wodehouse, dedication of "The Heart of a Goof"

-Ken
-- 
miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu | Graecis ac barbaris, sapientibus et
opinions are my own      | insipientibus debitor sum

Xref: sparky alt.config:8333 alt.folklore.urban:32982
From: cgd@stinson.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Chris G. Demetriou)
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL: alt.fan.babak-sehari
Date: 7 Jan 93 06:53:26 GMT
	<1993Jan7.030717.20290@bmerh85.bnr.ca>
Organization: Kernel Hackers 'r' Us
NNTP-Posting-Host: stinson.cs.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: nadeau@bnr.ca's message of Thu, 7 Jan 93 03:07:17 GMT

In article <1993Jan7.030717.20290@bmerh85.bnr.ca> nadeau@bnr.ca (Rheal Nadeau) writes:
>In article <CGD.93Jan6181531@stinson.CS.Berkeley.EDU> cgd@stinson.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Chris G. Demetriou) writes:
>>i proposet alt.fan.babak-sehari
>>
>>why?
>>
>>because anyone with the guts to try to post something like the following,
>>automatically, to every newsgroup they have access to deserves a fan club!
>
>Nah, let's stick to a mailing list.  A hate-mailing list.  (By now, Babak
>must be building up an impressive collection . . .)

the problem with this approach is that he could very well get his
account turned off for this; the people at iastate said that
they were looking into disciplinary action, etc...

so we've gotta have all the discussion in a public forum, where
all of his friends (?!!) can read it, and relay it to him...

Chris
--
Chris G. Demetriou                                    cgd@cs.berkeley.edu

"Sometimes it is better to have twenty million instructions by
        Friday than twenty million instructions per second." -- Wes Clark
From: dittman@skitzo.dseg.ti.com (Eric Dittman)
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: "alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions"
Date: 8 Jan 93 14:45:50 CDT
Organization: Texas Instruments Component Test Facility

In article <1993Jan8.192711.17067@cs.sfu.ca>, jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews) writes:
>      I think Jyrki is planning to create all those 48 groups he
> was threatening to create a few months ago, only to do it 2 per
> month so no one notices so much.  How long is this travesty
> going to continue?

I don't know.  I've aliased all the alt.uu groups into alt.uu here.
-- 
Eric Dittman                  Texas Instruments - Component Test Facility
dittman@skitzo.dseg.ti.com    (214) 578-3575
Disclaimer:  Not even my opinions.  I found them by the side of the road.
From: tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: "alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions"
Date: 8 Jan 93 23:18:52 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1993Jan8.192711.17067@cs.sfu.ca>, jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews) writes:

> How long is this travesty going to continue?

As long as you continue to honor his newgroup requests.  I took them here
until it became obvious that nothing serious was going on in the groups.

Terry
From: corleyj@helium.gas.uug.arizona.edu (Jason D Corley )
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: Re: Proposal for new alt newsgroup: alt.fan.wodehouse
Date: 13 Jan 93 00:10:26 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson

What ho, Jeeves!  Sterling idea old chap!  Must be the fish...he
thrives on fish, you know, Cats-Meat my boy.

	(I vote yes!)

--
****************************************************************************
"Generally, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go when
 things have got about as bad as they can reasonably get."--Tom Stoppard
   Jason D. Corley  (aka corleyj@gas.uug.arizona.edu) Physics, Lunacy, etc.
Newsgroups: alt.config,alt.fan.jay-maynard,news.groups,alt.non.sequitur,talk.bizarre,alt.religion.kibology
From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: alt.sewer (Was: Re: Proposal: alt.answers)
Followup-To: alt.config,alt.fan.jay-maynard
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 93 01:39:40 GMT

In article <1ijuslINN41j@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) writes:
>In article <1993Jan8.062621.3290@netcom.com>, jef@netcom.com (Jef Poskanzer) writes:
>|> I used to participate in news.answers, but I stopped after Jonathan
>|> tried to exert prior restraint on the content, not form, of a posting.
>
>This is a lie.
>
>|> It's not just me, either, he has done the same to others.
>
>As is this.

Hey, forget all that.  The issue of whether Jonathon Kamens censored
articles in news.answers is irrelevant.  We're talking about a proposal
for alt.answers here, and it's obvious to ME that alt.answers is a bad
name for it.  Why, that would imply some kind of order in alt!

No, a far better name for a group which would contain FAQ articles about
various alt. groups would be 'alt.sewer'.  Descriptive, apropos, and
oh-so-timely.

Let's newgroup alt.sewer and appoint Kibo, Terry Chan, and Mark_Gooley the
co-moderators of it immediately.
Xref: sparky alt.config:8290 rec.humor.d:2887
From: ratte@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de (  Cordula Reineke  )
Newsgroups: alt.config,rec.humor.d
Subject: Re: alt.fan.cows
Date: 5 Jan 93 13:31:08 GMT
Organization: Applied Math, University of Bonn, Germany

In article <1993Jan4.181826.5742@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr) writes:
>>ascii art?  If so, someone please do tell.  If not, I
>>would not be deeply wounded by the consideration of an 
>>alt.ascii-art newsgroup in which to post cow art; however,
>
>Do you want a group called alt.art.ascii?  I'd support it if several dozen
>other people also wanted it... otherwise, we'll just go on posting cow art
>in rec.pets and damn the torpedoes. :)
>
I'd support it too (if anybody tells me how to do that), so go ahead, start
the group alt.art.ascii !

Cordula

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  o -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
|Dipl.Math.                              |     "Winning doesn't drag you    |
|Cordula Reineke                 /\O/    |      as high up as losing drags  |
|Universitaet Bonn              0  \\    |      you down"                   |
|ratte@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de      //    |                 - Boris Becker   |
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
I am an Evangelistic Signature! I can heal you! You must touch me!
TOUCH THE SCREEN! TOUCH THE SCREEN! HEAL!! HEAL!!
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.config
Subject: "Alt.fan" considered less than optimal
Date: 4 Jan 93 18:08:33 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego


  This is not a periodic posting, and is not posted by a machine.
Well, a machine was involved, but . . . well, you get the idea. BTW,
sorry for the boring subject line, but I just reread the _New Hacker
Dictionary_.

WHY ALT.FAN IS NOT GOOD:

1) It's uninformative. Nearly _all_ newgroups exist for fans of the
subject. It doesn't need to be stated explicitly. "Alt.sex.bondage"
is, clearly, designed for aficionados of bondage. Calling it
"Alt.fan.sex.bondage" would add nothing to the name except four
letters and a level of hierarchy.

2) It's overused. "Alt.fan" is turning into just another big, flat,
non-hierarchy. It's as though people started deciding that "alt.X"
looked too boring, so they'd call it "alt.fan.X". Take, for example,
"alt.fan.pratchett". Why not "alt.writers.pratchett" (which, BTW,
would allow for a place for a couple other alt.fan groups)

3) Joel Furr likes 'em. After alt.fan.lemurs and the proposed
alt.fan.cows, it's beginning to look like Joel wants every member of
the animal kingdom to have its own alt.fan group. Remember, Joel,
hamsters already have their own group.

4) It's a form of laziness. A few more minutes spent naming a group
would pay off tenfold. See how much better
"alt.cascade.monty-python" sounds?

5) It's actually WRONG. Ideally, the only groups with ".fan" in the
title would be things like "alt.fan.bruce-becker" and
"alt.fan.warlord", where there IS a purpose (albeit sarcastic) for
it to be there.

6) I don't like it. Nuff said.

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (So there! Abide by what I have said, or . . . or . . . the whole
net will EXPLODE! AIYEEEE!)

-- 
I'll be in San Francisco in early January. What shouldn't I miss?
E-mail suggestions to the address cleverly hidden in the header.