Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cbosgd.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!clyde!burl!ulysses!cbosgd!mark From: mark@cbosgd.UUCP Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Re: A Thought on Newsgroup Structure (lo - (nf) Message-ID: <900@cbosgd.UUCP> Date: Tue, 31-Jan-84 22:42:23 EST Article-I.D.: cbosgd.900 Posted: Tue Jan 31 22:42:23 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 2-Feb-84 01:29:45 EST References: <5248@uiucdcs.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus Lines: 32 I agree with Ray, dynamic creation/removal of newsgroups is not the solution. Notesfiles has (apparently) shown that having subdiscussions marked within newsgroups is sufficient. News does this as well, with the References line. It's just that most of you out there are running 2.10 or earlier, which pays no attention to this line. 2.11 is under development and sorts by discussion. There are also commands being considered to do things like "skip the rest of this discussion" and "unsubscribe to this discussion". In doing this, a problem is emerging. A lot of you "wonderful people" (-: out there don't use the built in followup command, but instead post a fresh article. Often you type in any random subject you can think of, and of course you don't include a references line. (I understand that some of you want a cooling off period, or a line printer interface. We're working on this but it's a hard problem and suggestions are welcome.) When somebody posts a fresh article with a different subject, there is no way the news system can tell it's really a followup. The major distinguishing factor, as I understand it, between news and notes in this regard is that notes forces you to use their one user interface, so if you want to follow up you must use their command. News allows several different user interfaces, including delayed things like the line printer, and so can't force you to use the followup command. It isn't clear which is better, obviously both have their advantages. If you have a wonderful idea to ensure that followups are properly marked as such, please let us know (cbosgd!uucp-news) Mark Horton Mark