Re: The OSU WWW FAQ server

Steve Summit (scs@eskimo.com)
Fri, 30 Sep 1994 10:30:09 -0700

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Previous message: ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de: "So you're interested in helping moderate *.answers...."
In reply to: Edward Reid: "The OSU WWW FAQ server"

In <01010064.arca7p@titipu.resun.com>, Ed Reid wrote:
> I've made two changes to my FAQ as a result...
> The second is to include a pointer
> to the OSU server in my "Where's the FAQ" section and also in a new section:
>
> If you are using the World Wide Web (aka WWW, W3, lynx, Mosaic),
> you can reach a WWW-formatted version of the FAQ via the URL
>
> http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/diabetes/top.html
>
> I welcome the ability to tell [people who wish to reference n FAQ] just to
> implement a WWW link to the OSU server. This way neither they nor I need
> worry about their copy going out of date.

I too thank Tom Fine & Co. for the great work they've done,
and I too welcome the ability to use URL's referring to the
FAQ collection at Ohio State.

There's one obvious problem, though: how guaranteed is it that a
particular URL within that collection will remain valid? I know
there's one URL pointing at the top of the tree, and I expect it
to remain constant (although my notes suggest that it might have
changed once, and just now I can't tell whether
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu:80/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html
or http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu:80/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html
is more official). But I haven't been prepared to assume that
the URL's for individual FAQ lists within the collection would
never change as the database there was perhaps reorganized over
time.

Before too many individual WWW FAQ URL's get publicized and
installed in widely scattered web pages, we should make sure that
the current naming scheme is adequate for long-term use and won't
have to be revamped. An obvious technique (which may already be
in use) is to make everything below
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu:80/hypertext/faq/usenet dependent
on the news.answers Archive-name, or maybe the newsgroup archive
name. (Of course, those archive names can change, too, but it's
the individual FAQ list maintainer's decision if they do.)

Perhaps the folks at Ohio State have already thought about this
problem, and adopted just such a solution; apologies for bringing
it up again if so.

Steve Summit
scs@eskimo.com

Previous message: ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de: "So you're interested in helping moderate *.answers...."
In reply to: Edward Reid: "The OSU WWW FAQ server"

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