From: sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu (Timothy F. Sipples)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: RFD: how about comp.sys.ibm.pc.advocacy?
Date: 2 Jan 93 03:55:42 GMT
Reply-To: sip1@midway.uchicago.edu
Followup-To: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Organization: Dept. of Econ., Univ. of Chicago

In article <1992Dec22.225219.13550@zooid.guild.org> kovarski@zooid.guild.org (Mark Kovarski) writes:
>What I would rather see, is the creation of a newsgroup where people can post
>their suggestions, bug reports, comments on OS/2 2.x. This way, people from
>IBM can read the conference and get the latest without going through tons of
>mail. So something like comp.os.os2.reports would be good. I think there
>should be an comp.os.os2.announcements newsgroup as well. All announcements
>can be posted there as well.

I'd love to RFD comp.os.os2.announce and comp.os.os2.ver1x.  As for a
bug reporting newsgroup, I have no objection in principle to the idea,
but I would like to hear what IBM's plans are for a bug reporting
mechanism now that the Internet to CompuServe mechanism has been shut
down.

The comp.os.os2.announce newsgroup requires a moderator.  Are you
volunteering, Mark?  :-)

The comp.os.os2.programmer.porting proposal a while back was a
terrific idea.  The voting was botched, frankly, and I hope it gets
reintroduced for RFD after the mandatory six month wait.  Does anyone
know when that six months is up?  (That new newsgroup would also
accompany a renaming of comp.os.os2.programmer to
comp.os.os2.programmer.misc.)

The other botched newsgroup was comp.os.os2.setup, which I'd also like
to reintroduce.

So, in summary, I'd like to see these OS/2 newsgroups:

comp.os.os2.misc
comp.os.os2.advocacy
comp.os.os2.apps
comp.os.os2.networking
comp.os.os2.announce
comp.os.os2.ver1x
comp.os.os2.programmer.misc
comp.os.os2.programmer.porting

My preference is to work out bugs (which, nine times out of ten,
aren't bugs) in the appropriate newsgroup, with an official netmail
address for filing official bug reports.  Perhaps .announce could aid
in this effort, with periodic summaries of APARs opened, say, along
with a periodic posting of the problem report form.  The key is to
have a crack moderator -- the success of the newsgroup obviously
depends on his efforts.  (That moderator could delegate authority,
obviously.)

The comp.os.os2.ver1x deserves some special mention.  This idea came
up some time ago.  At first I didn't like the idea, because I felt it
would "ghetto-ize" users of OS/2 1.x.  However, I now think the
opposite would happen, much as it has with .networking and .advocacy,
namely that it would provide another forum to stimulate additional
discussion that would not have taken place otherwise.

The .porting newsgroup I consider vital.  If applications are to come
to OS/2 rapidly, developers need more help in getting existing code
over to native mode.  This includes the large library of Unix
software.  On the freeware side, part of the problem is duplication of
effort.  That newsgroup would also serve to coordinate efforts and
keep everyone abreast of the state of various ports.

Make sense?  Thoughts, anyone?

-- 
Timothy F. Sipples      | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
sip1@ellis.uchicago.edu | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
Dept. of Econ., Univ.   | /faq, or from LISTSERV@BLEKUL11.BITNET (send "HELP")
of Chicago, 60637       | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]