From: netwise@teal.csn.org (Netwise Inc)
Newsgroups: rec.skate
Subject: Breaking up rec.skate
Date: 6 Apr 92 20:35:25 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Netwise, Inc.

In article <996@ncrclm.ClemsonSC.NCR.COM> hack@ncrclm.ClemsonSC.NCR.COM (Elaine Hacklaender) writes:
>Personally I think it would be great to have a newsgroup just for ice
>skating.  We don't have a kill option at our site and I get tired of \ wading
>through articles about in-line skating.  No offense, but it's just not what I
>am interested in.  I often skip reading this newsgroup altogether because all
>I ever see are those kinds of articles.  From what I understand, setting up a
>new newsgroup does not take that long (certainly not 200+ hours).
>Unfortunately, we have intense restrictions at our site which would prevent
>me from such an undertaking, but I would do it if I could!!!

I was hoping that this thread will wither away on its own. Please respect the
Followup-To: field; I'll discuss this further with anyone who wants on e-mail.

My general suggestion to anyone who is interested in creating new news groups:
become familiar with the nature of News. I suggest you first subscribe to
news.announce.newusers. You will gain valuable insight into the technical and
political nature of Usenet. To quote from Gene Spafford's excellent article,
"What is Usenet?," which is periodically posted to news.announce.newgroups:

>[...]  Therefore, for your new newsgroup to be propagated widely, you must
>not only follow the letter of the guidelines; you must also follow its
>spirit.  And you must not allow even a whiff of shady dealings or dirty
>tricks to mar the vote.  In other words, don't tick off system
>administrators; they will get their revenge.
>
>So, you may ask: How is a new user supposed to know anything about the
>"spirit" of the guidelines?  Obviously, he can't.  This fact leads
>inexorably to the following recommendation:
>
> >> If you are a new user, don't try to create a new newsgroup. <<
>
>If you have a good newsgroup idea, then read the "news.groups" newsgroup for
>a while (six months, at least) to find out how things work.  If you're too
>impatient to wait six months, then you really need to learn; read
>"news.groups" for a year instead.  If you just can't wait, find a Usenet old
>hand to run the vote for you.
>
>Readers may think this advice unnecessarily strict.  Ignore it at your peril.
>It is embarrassing to speak before learning.  It is foolish to jump into a
>society you don't understand with your mouth open.  And it is futile to try
>to force your will on people who can tune you out with the press of a key.

As an aside, Elaine, *this* is where one will burn a large number of the 200+
hours for "setting up" a new newsgroup (unless you're already reading
news.groups).  news.announce.newusers is a good group for everyone to read --
if you're interested in getting modern news-reading software, you will find
out how to get it from this group.

I hope we can put this thread away for at least a few weeks.

OBSkate: The new East extension to the Boulder Creek Trail is really neat!
There's very little traffic east of 55th street. I highly recommend this as a 
learning area.

Next meeting of Boulder Skaters Galvanized: Wednesday, April 8 at Netwise,
2477 55th Street, Boulder. 7PM.

>hack@ncrclm.ClemsonSC.NCR.COM

Phil Earnhardt			pae@netwise.com
Netwise, Inc.			Boulder, CO  (303) 442-8280
Newsgroups: rec.skate