Several cycling FAQs in German only were batch-posted to
news.answers. I wondered why we were receiving them, because we don't
want any German language newsgroups. I asked the poster,
S.P.Zeidler, why he hadn't posted them with Distribution: de.
The story continues: ]
In message <19940216.7BBDED0.12AA4@serpens.rhein.de>,
S.P.Zeidler writes:
> A distribution de has been discussed at the time of creation of the
> de hierarchy, and was voted down. You ask for de.*, you get it, no
> matter where you are.
That's the case with a distribution as well. I'm not suggesting that
people outside Germany should not be able to get German newsgroups;
rather, I'm suggesting that people outside Germany should be able, if
they choose, to *not* get German-language postings, even if they're
cross-posted to "big five" newsgroups.
> There are eg quite a number of sites in the US that get de.all
> (in the UK too).
Of course. We've discussed getting fr.* here. However, as it stands
we do not want to get German language postings. And it seems to me
that the natural way to arrange that is to have those German language
postings which are relevant only to Germany posted with Distribution: de.
In a similar way, when I post something which is only relevant to
people in the UK -- like, say, an obscure joke about a minor UK
politician -- I stick Distribution: uk on it. It's simply polite to
do so.
> > [ Fatuous suggestion deleted ]
>
> So it is fatuous to suggest to just skip a few articles you can't
> read in the deluge of news there is.
Yes, it is. Otherwise what would be the point of regional hierarchies
anyway? We'd just have everyone posting in every language to every
newsgroup, and leave the readers to skip over those postings they
can't read. A cyberspace tower of babel.
It is *obvious* that people want to be able to restrict the news they
get based on the language it's in. Hell, if you can get all the
people who post in German to put Keywords: german, at least then I'll
be able to kill-file it.
> Seeing that I had intended to post to de.rec.fahrrad,de.answers
> and the moderator of de.answers, who also is co-moderator of
> news.answers, requested that I add news.answers, I see no reason
> why you hassle _me_ of all people and request of _me_ to convice
> several thousand newsadmins to change their sys/newsfeeds if all
> that irks you is that crossposting. _I_ didn't choose to crosspost.
>
> You take in a moderated group, you get what the moderators deemed
> fit to show up there. As the moderators of news.answers _insist_
> that de.answers get crossposted to news.answers (with de.answers
> only you'd never have seen it), they'll most likely also insist
> that Distribution:, if present, is world. So duh.
>
> You want changes, you argue with _them_.
OK, readers of faq-maintainers, I am arguing.
I'd better make it crystal clear:
I do *not* object to non-English-language postings on Usenet. What I
object to is being unable to filter them out of the newsfeed.
I am not suggesting a ban on non-English-language postings to the "big
five". I am suggesting that foreign language postings, or postings of
interest only to a limited area, be posted with a sensible Distribution
so that sites can choose to receive those postings or not.
mathew
-- I have a flawless philosophical and scientific model of reality. Unfortunately, it's actual size. We must never be dogmatic. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Will betray country for food. Annoy the censors -- mention Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka in your .signature.
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