From: karttu@mits.mdata.fi (Antti Karttunen)
Subject: Re: RFD: rec.games.abstract
Keywords: perfect-information deterministic strategic no-dice
Organization: MITS, Helsinki, Finland
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 17:05:29 GMT

My two cents:

I definitely favor the creation of rec.games.abstract.

For all those alarmed war/simulation/whatever-gamers there:
We are _not_ splitting your newsgroup. I looked to rec.games.board
and it is clearly the forum for you. Instead we are creating a new group
for those people interested about other kind of games, which for this far
have had to lurk in the margins of rec.games.go, rec.games.chess and
occassionally even in rec.games.board, which all are inappropriate
for them.

And you say: 'Hey, there comes only 20-40 articles a day to r.g.b, that's
just a trickle, it's sooo easy to select the articles you are interested
from...'. Well, not everybody reads Usenet daily. I prefer certain
well-defined, low-volume groups, with perhaps even a few articles per
week, and which I know that I don't need to filter hundred of messages
of uninteresting (to me) stuff. Important thing to notice is that
low volume doesn't make them worthless in anyway, probably it's the other way.
Now, some people have suggested using the killfiles. Well, there's already
62 lines in mine, and more 'moles' appear all the time. And when I add
more keywords to it, more I have chances of killing also something
belonging to 'abstract' group.

About mailing lists: I simply dislike my mailbox being filled up. And I
think they are more appropriate for certain specific 'fan' topics,
than general topic like this. Especially when newcomers want to ask/write
about game X it's much easier to do it in newsgroup, than subscribe to
some list Y in address Z, and first to find the info for that.

About the name: 'abstract' is not perhaps the best classification, but it
is good compromise. I'm not sure which one is better: rec.games.abstract
or rec.games.board.abstract. The latter would be probably found easier
by the newcomers interested about games like Shoogi, Checkers, etc,
but there are probably also some abstract games not requiring any kind
of board. But we could argue that even games like 'Nim' (which is usually
played with matches) are kind of 'board games', as underlying table works
as a 'board'. ;-) But if not the latter then the former one suits me well.
(If you play Chess/Shoogi/Go solely by e-mail, is it a board game then??? ;-)

Of course rec.games.{abstract,board,chess,go,etc.} should mention in their
FAQs which group is appropriate for which kind of discussion.

PS. These newsgroup naming wars remind me of one Borges essay about
attempts to create 'scientific' languages, having one word for every
real or imaginable object, assigned in some systematic, hierarchic way.

PPS. Here is my News/rec/games/board/KILL file in case you might need it:
(for rn).

/^Subject: .*1830.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*3r.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*ace.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*adv.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*allies.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*arms.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*army.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*atr.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*avalon.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*avatar.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*axis.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*barbar.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*baseball.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*battle.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*blackbeard.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*btech.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*castle.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*civ.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*combat.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*corp.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*cosmic.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*diplomacy.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*divine.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*emperor.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*empire.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*fantasy.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*flame.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*flat top.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*fleet.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*fortr.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*gamer.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*generals.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*hero.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*junta.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*machiavell.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*magic.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*monopol.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*naval.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*navy.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*nova.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*piracy.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*pirate.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*rail.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*realm.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*reich.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*risk.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*royal.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*scenario.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*seige.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*serial.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*sfb.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*shogun.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*soccer.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*space.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*spqr.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*suprem.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*sword.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*talisman.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*tank.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*troop.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*war.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*wif.*/h:=:j
/^Subject: .*wwi.*/h:=:j

-- 
Antti Karttunen       --  $B%"%s%C%F%#!!%+%k%C%H%%%M%s(J  (et{ty|t|n)
karttu@mits.mdata.fi  --  Apatheist, although not particularly proud of it.
Newsgroups: news.groups,news.admin.policy