From: jgm@cs.brown.edu (Jonathan Monsarrat)
Subject: A rough attempt to define comp.sources.postscript formally
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 17:20:51 GMT

Hi everyone! This is Jonathan Monsarrat. Mike Brown (Vidiot), Bill
Richardson, and I got together and wrote up a proposal just for
posting to comp.lang.postscript. It would be nice to reach a general
consensus on this newsgroup before starting an official RFD.

If you are a proponent, or are a proponent of a variant, then let's
discuss what the correct newsgroup would be like to satisfy everyone.

If you are a non-supporter, please try to say why in terms of
the specifics in this prototype.

After we hash it out in comp.lang.postscript, I'll post it to
news.announce.newgroups for general discussion (if all goes well).

-Jon
%! Jon Monsarrat   jgm@cs.brown.edu   Brown University %! Obfuscated PostScript
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===============================================================================
===============================================================================
* THIS IS A ROUGH DRAFT AND HAS NOT ACTUALLY BEEN POSTED TO NEWS.GROUPS YET *
===============================================================================
===============================================================================

Newsgroups (will be): news.announce.newsgroups,comp.lang.postscript
Newsgroups (will be): comp.graphics,comp.fonts,comp.text.tex
Followup-To: news.groups

This is (will be but is not yet) a formal Request for Discussion
regarding the establishment of two newsgroups dealing with
graphic source written in the PostScript language.

This announcement is (will be) cross-posted to newsgroups whose
readers may have interest in the discussion about the new group;
follow-up discussion will take place in "news.groups". Suggestions,
comments or problems may also be emailed to me at jgm@cs.brown.edu.

REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION
----------------------

NEWSGROUP

  comp.sources.postscript          (moderated)

PURPOSE

  A sources group where postscript programs of generally useful
  graphic images and utilities can be posted.

RATIONALE

  Including graphics is very popular in document-making, and a
  great deal of effort is spent in creating PostScript graphics.
  There is no general forum to share or request these graphics.

  A share space is also needed for utilities and example code
  for PostScript programmers. Comp.lang.postscript is a discussion
  newsgroup, and people rightly refrain from posting source code
  there because it would increase the non-discussion aspects of the group
  to the point that many PostScript users would not read it.

CONTENT

  Only code written in the PostScript language would be appropriate.
  Programs in other languages that produce PostScript would not be,
  except for fonts.

  Clip Art:   Hand-made PostScript programs, converted binaries,
              or the machine generated output from a drawing tools,
              representing a graphical image meant to be included in
              documents. (Other art would usually be fine.)

  Utilities:  Hand-made PostScript programs either demonstrating or
              facilitating use of the PostScript graphics language.

  Font:       Fonts that can be used with the PostScript language.

  The focus should be on generally useful programs or art. Specific
  information, such as a new weathermap in PostScript posted daily, is
  more like a binary than a source, and would not be appropriate.

  Text documents formatted in PostScript would not be appropriate.

  EPSF conversion would be encouraged and facilitated, but not enforced.

NAME

  "comp.sources.postscript"    follows other comp.sources.* groups.

MODERATED

  Comp.sources.postscript should be moderated to limit noise,
  and to increase the ease of archiving and retrieving source code.
  Comp.sources.* groups are usually moderated.

MODERATOR

  Jonathan Monsarrat (jgm@cs.brown.edu) is an experienced PostScript
  programmer. He maintains the comp.lang.postscript FAQ.
  He is currently the only volunteer.

NEWSGROUP CREATION

  The discussion period will be from (TBD) to (TBD). Please post all
  discussion to news.group. If a consensus is reached by the end of the
  discussion period, a CFV (Call for Votes) will be posted at that time.
  The voting period will last for 30 days.

  I am looking for a volunteer to handle vote-taking since I am biased
  in favor of creation of the newsgroup.

==============================================================

To start the discussion:

---"Is volume for PostScript sources high enough to warrant a newsgroup?"---

  It is true that not many sources get posted to comp.lang.postscript.
  However, it is generally understood that the c.l.p newsgroup is for
  the discussion of PostScript. Large sources have been discouraged.
  Therefore, no wonder that there isn't a high source volume!

  Word processing by computer is extremely popular worldwide, and clip
  art for graphics has no home now. There is an enormous amount of
  PostScript sources in the world, much of which is very difficult to
  find because everybody has their own personal archives.

  With an explicit group dedicated to PostScript source, it should
  encourage people to post. I expect that we would then receive
  donations from these private collections. Personally, I have enough
  freeware in my archives to post a new program every day for years.

---"So, some image drawn in Framemaker would be allowed?"---

  In my opinion, just because it is made with a machine generator does
  not make a graphic unuseable in some way. It would have to be posted
  in PostScript format. Even though, .AFM files are not PostScript code,
  they need to be included with a PostScript program that needs them
  if available so that users can include
  the font in their own personal text output.

---"Would fonts be allowed?"---

  If they are written in PostScript, then in my opinion they could
  validly be called source intended for inclusion in larger programs.
  That would make them appropriate.

---"Would sources be compressed? How would they be formatted?"---

  This is a very interesting topic, but not particularly
  relevant to the charter of the group.

---"How about a comp.sources.postscript.d?"---

There are two newsgroups: 

     comp.sources.wanted
     comp.sources.d

That might make comp.sources.postscript.d superfluous. If we were
to suggest it, it might say:

  comp.sources.postscript.d        (unmoderated)

  A sources.d group for questions, requests, and discussion.

  A discussion group for requests, usage information, and
  announcements would greatly facilitate getting and using sources.

  Comp.sources.postscript.d should not be moderated. Anyone should be
  able to post a program request or program usage request.
  
  "comp.sources.postscript.d"  follows the typical convention.

Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript,rec.photo