From: forbes@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (Scott Forbes)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.tiny-toon,rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon
Subject: Re: Regarding rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon
Date: 8 Jan 93 00:25:51 GMT
Followup-To: alt.tv.tiny-toon
Organization: Usenet Sports Programming Network

jrjohns@eos.ncsu.edu (John R. Johns II) writes:
_= Since some sites carry only alt.tv.tiny-toon, and some sites only
_= rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon, why don't we do this:
_=  
_= If you have access to both groups, cross post.
_= If you have access to only alt.tv.tiny-toon...well, post there, obviously.
_= Ditto for rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon.

I hate to pour rain on anybody's parade, but this is a Bad Idea.
Encouraging the use of a bogus newsgroup isn't exactly a crime,
but it's a good way to piss off all the system administrators who
are politely allowing you to post messages on their machines.

Sites that carry bogus "rec" groups are, by definition, clueless.
The lists of valid and bogus groups are posted almost weekly, and
verifying a newgroup control message is trivially easy.  If your
site is carrying rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon, your sysadmin is asleep,
automated, or making a personal statement by being unconventional.

Sites that categorically ignore "alt" groups are also clueless,
IMHO, because there are good and useful groups in this hierarchy
(such as alt.folklore.computers, which just fought off an attempt
to move the group into the "comp" hierarchy).  Filtering out the
undesirable and potentially dangerous groups takes some work, but
is worth the effort and should be done.  If your sysadmin refuses
to carry the "alt" groups, get an account on nyx or one of the
other free public netnews sites.

(Sites that carry the "alt.binaries.pictures.*" hierarchy are in
violation of U.S. copyright law and are subject to legal action.
No joke.  No bogus arguments about pornography and free speech.
If your company is using a computer to facilitate the transfer of
digitized Playboy centerfolds from one human to another, your
company is begging for a lawsuit, and Playboy is starting to pay
more attention to electronic theft of this kind.  At least one
lawsuit of this type has been successful; details were posted to
one of the news.announce groups.)

Creating a group such as "rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon" would require
a vote of all interested netnews readers, and that vote would
need to pass by a 2/3 margin AND a margin of 100 votes or more.
It is VERY difficult to get a newsgroup created for discussion
of a single television show ("Quantum Leap" fans have literally
been trying for years without success; "Disney Afternoon" fans
had their proposal shot down by international readers).  Outside
of the "alt" hierarchy, where literally anyone who knows how 
can create their own newsgroup, there are only two groups that
dicuss specific television programs:  rec.arts.drwho, and the
rec.arts.startrek.* hierarchy.

Another item:  Newsgroups lose a lot of their character when
they move from "alt" to some other hierarchy.  Changing the size
and readership of a newsgroup like this will in part destroy
some of the things that make alt.tv.tiny-toon neat.  (Picture
how long in-jokes and net.scripts would last if 20 new readers
came trolling through here every day....)

In any case, trying to increase the number of posts in
rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon is a good way to meet lots of people,
but not likely to make you popular among them.  I'd have to
recommend not doing this, and trying to convince your sysadmin
to replace rec.arts.tv.tiny-toon with alt.tv.tiny-toon.
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Scott Forbes		AT&T Network Wireless Systems		==---======
Naperville, IL		forbes@icbm.att.com			 =========
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