From: gst@spdcc.com (Gary S. Trujillo)
Subject: Re: Call for Discussion on "alt.native" split
Reply-To: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo)
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 18:40:27 GMT
Expires: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 00:00:00 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.222852.28633@ms.uky.edu> kherron@ms.uky.edu
	(Kenneth Herron) writes:

> According to our logs, alt.native was created 22 months ago and
> has received 1567 articles since then.  That's a little over two
> articles per day.

I suggest the comparison of this average with the volume over the past
couple of months, following the linkage between alt.native and the
NATCHAT mailing list.  This measurement would give an indication of a
dramatic increase in volume as a result of the linkage.

My point, and the whole reason for proposing the split, is to accomo-
date the linkage of additional mailing lists with alt.native.* news-
groups.  The fact is that Usenet folks are missing a lot of important
information which is carried by the NativeNet mailing lists due to
the fact that the linkage at present is only between NATCHAT and
alt.native.

I hope the following message, which I received today (author name
deleted, since I did not obtain permission to use the message) may
make this whole issue more clear:

| Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 13:44:06 -0400
| To: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
| Subject: alt.native proposal
|
| Gary,
|
| From a selfish standpoint I would find it very useful to see
| alt.native subdivided into groups corresponding to the NATIVENET
| lists, as you propose.  It is much easier for me to scan USENET
| newsgroups than root through my mail bag.  I would also begin to
| scan the 1492, language, and education groups, while at present I
| can't see adding them to my already large flow of mail.  The
| person's response about limited activity on alt.native impressed
| me at first.  But then, I thought, how much activity has there
| been on alt.native SINCE it was united with NATCHAT?  And how
| much increased activity might there be in all the NATIVENET
| groups if we adopt your proposal?

This message is from someone who is currently on the NATIVE-L list,
which is the only way he presently has of obtaining the information
it carries.  Creating an "alt.native.info" newsgroup to carry NATIVE-L
material would enable such persons to drop off the mailing list and to
obtain articles via the more convenient mechanism Usenet provides.

> Given this, there is absolutely no justification for splitting the
> group, especially a five-way split.  Even with all of these lists
> gatewayed into the same group it would be trivial for an interested
> person to follow things.

What is *not* trivial is to sort out postings from Usenet so that they
go to appropriate mailing lists.  I'm proposing a fully bi-directional
link-up here,  not merely to feed articles from mailing lists to Usenet
newsgroups.  That's the present arrangement between alt.native and the
NATCHAT mailing list.  Any article posted to alt.native is sent to a
moderator who approves the article and injects it into the mailing list
stream for NATCHAT@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (a LISTSERV-based mailing list).
Any article sent to the mailing list address is also passed on to the
moderator, but when such an article is sent to the mailing list itself,
a copy is also automatically posted to alt.native.

The fact is that we have a variety of independent information and dis-
cussion channels, each of which has a high enough volume to make them
worthy of separate mailing lists.  I am proposing that Usenet folks
have the advantage of this information in a form which would be most
convenient for them.

Gary
-- 
    Gary S. Trujillo                             gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts               {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst
Newsgroups: alt.native