I'd suggest that if it truly is too big to post monthly, then there's too much
information there for Usenet to be the appropriate distribution medium. One
of the key ideas behind Usenet FAQ's is that their Expires: and Supercedes:
headers are set so that the current version should always be present in the
appropriate groups. Very few sites will honour expiry dates as far as three
months in the future though, so posting an FAQ only every three months defeats
the key idea that the FAQ should always be there in the group, easy to find.
Following a pointer will always be harder than reading an article that's
already there, so I'd advise against using a pointer, except to forestall
questions from users on sites that don't honour the Expires: header at all.
> The easiest thing to do is to partition your FAQ into smaller
> sections--like creating chapters in a book. If you don't want to
> bombard the usenet with all FAQ sheets at once, you can rotate the
> posting schedule--two files per week throughout a four-week or
> one-month schedule, for example.
I've noticed a few FAQ posters using this technique, and I find it very
frustrating, because the bits of FAQ arrive in dribs and drabs amoungst all
the other noise in the group. I can appreciate that posters do it to avoid
sudden increases in news load, but again, I'd suggest that if your FAQ
constitutes a significant proportion of a groups traffic by volume, then it's
probably on the weighty side. Better to make the whole shebang available by
ftp or on the web, and post an abriged version which briefly answers the
common questions, points to the additional information via ftp/www, and
doesn't flood slow news links.
regards,
Graham
-- Graham Stoney Promotions Manager, CISRA Ice Spectacular
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