From: peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva)
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL:  Yes votes >= 200+2*No Votes
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
Distribution: news
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 15:29:30 GMT

In article <10913@armltd.uucp> dseal@armltd.co.uk (David Seal) writes:
> Anyone feel like writing a "How to Name a New Usenet Group" document, as
> supplementary material to the Guidelines?

How about this as a start:

Subject: How to name a new Usenet newsgroup.

When creating a new Usenet newsgroup, it is important that
the group name match the topic you intend to discuss in the
group, and that the group fit well into the existing
structure of Usenet.

If the newsgroup name doesn't closely match the intended
topic, three things happen:

1.   people who want to discuss the topic can't find the
     right group.

2.   people who want to discuss a topic that's more closely
     matched by the name will start using the group.

3.   as a consequence of the first two problems, flamewars
     will erupt as people already using the group try to
     manage these newcomers who refuse to stay on topic.

It's not always obvious that a name is a poor match. For
example, a group to discuss miscellaneous graphical user
interfaces... the most obvious choice for a name is
"comp.windows.misc". Unfortunately, Microsoft's GUI product
is popularly known as "windows", and as a result the group
is mostly used to discuss that product.

Even if you don't mind, or even enjoy, the flame wars that
this will produce a name mismatch like this is going to make
it hard to get your group created in the "vote".

One of the ways that people find the group they want is
through the naming hierarchy. If you want to discuss the
IBM-PC, all the IBM groups are nicely clustered together
under comp.sys.ibm. If you want to discuss science fiction,
there's rec.arts.sf. If you're a mathematician, there's
sci.math. Choosing the right location in the hierarchy is as
important as choosing the right leaf name.

The other purpose of the hierarchy, and one that some people
consider more important (these people mostly being the ones
who have to manage the sites making up Usenet, and who have
the final say on whether ANY group actually gets anywhere)
is to simplify the task of administering the net. There's an
assumption that groups related to each other will be in
similar parts of the hierarchy, and that certain classes of
groups will be together: for example, comp.sources and
comp.binaries.

There are leaks. comp.mail.maps and news.lists are high-
volume groups that should probably be filed under a single
tree, but historical inertia and apathy (apathy is an
important force on the net) have kept them where they are.
*New* leaks are likely to meet stiff opposition.

One particular leakage that is getting more popular is to
move "talk" groups into other parts of the hierarchy. Having
all the high-noise groups under "talk" greatly simplifies
things for sites that want to stick to technical discussion,
for example, and if you start putting "talk" groups under
"comp" sites will simply quit automatically carrying all of
comp... and may end up culling more than you bargained for.
After all, the string "comp.sys.foo" is less typing than
"comp.sys.foo.advocacy"...

There are certain conventions that are useful to follow,
since they will help people familiar with them find the
right group quickly, and again reduce flaming both during
the "vote" and later, after the group is established. When
creating a hierarchy of groups, it's preferrable to have an
arrangement like

     rec.fruit.apple
     rec.fruit.banana
     rec.fruit.cherry
     rec.fruit.misc

rather than something like:

     rec.fruit.apple
     rec.fruit.banana
     rec.fruit.cherry
     rec.fruit

or:

     rec.fruit.banana
     rec.fruit.salad
     rec.fruit.bowl
     rec.fruit.misc

that is: the "base" group should be under ".misc", and the
groups should be divided along regular lines. If they're
not, you tend to get a lot of crossposting and the volume
that lead to splitting the original group remains: "but my
message is about bowls of fruit salad containing bananas".
-- 
Peter da Silva                                            `-_-'
Ferranti International Controls Corporation                'U` 
Sugar Land, TX  77487-5012 USA
+1 713 274 5180                            "Zure otsoa besarkatu al duzu gaur?"
Newsgroups: news.groups