FAQs - to spam or not to spam

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Karl M. Bunday (bunda002@gold.tc.umn.edu)
Thu, 06 Jun 1996 17:07:26 -0500

Mike Holloway wrote:
>
> >> Noncomprehende. They don't have to download anything they don't want to.
> >
> >Nope. Many Internet users have newsreading software that DEFAULTS to
> >downloading all new messages in a newsgroup.
>
> Ah, ha! Then I submit that this is a problem with screwy software, and not
> a problem with the way Usenet and FAQs have evolved. The PC based TCP/IP
> client/server newsreader software that I'm familiar with certainly doesn't
> do anything quite that stupid. The solution is to tell them to stop using
> the bad software. PPP connections are cheap now. Freenets are still going
> strong. It's just silly to think that Usenet has to reorganize itself for
> some poorly conceived software written for Compuserve (wild guess at a
> service provider that wants it's users to think that Usenet is crap). Isn't
> going to happen anyway. It's moot.
>
> Mike Holloway
> holloway@cris.com

It isn't CompuServe. CompuServe is indeed so bad that I never use it for
newsreading. But I think that FAQ authors (who quite likely are more
computer-literate than the majority of USENET *readers*) have to bear in mind
that we can't dictate for other people how their newsreader software behaves
or misbehaves. Sometimes that is a management decision for a local network
that affects thousands of users. I'm a one-man, one-machine shop here, so as
long as I can get my primary dial-up access provider (umn.edu) to communicate
to me about technical requirements, I can make my own set of decisions on
tradeoffs among different newsreader programs. (I'm not sure my current
tradeoff is optimal, yet.)

The "let them eat trn" attitude (expressed in another reply) seems oddly
inconsistent with the commendable public spirit of providing free information
in the form of FAQ files. Posting an FAQ isn't paying work, but buying and
using newsreader software usually DOES cost money, so complaints, while not
"customer" complaints, strictly speaking, have some legitimacy.

My preferred solution on misc.education, which has a pretty fast expire time
and participation from all over the world, with every which kind of
newsreading software, is to keep a large stock of SHORT FAQ files which I post
as specific replies (newsgroup replies, mail replies, or both, as appropriate)
when the frequently asked questions come up. The misc.education newsgroup only
has one or two of the "classic" kind of FAQ files, on subjects that I don't
care about. To each their own.

-- 
Karl from Minnesota, bunda002@gold.tc.umn.edu
74222.1721@compuserve.com     cfmc77a@prodigy.com
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