> Why refuse? The biggest concern about unauthorized posting is letting=
the=20
> FAQ get stale, but these folks have a mechanism to keep their copy=20
> current.
BZZZZZZT. No good. Ohio State had a system to keep their copies current, but=
then Tom Fine left, and the system atrophied. Now, Ohio State is happily=
serving up year-old versions of all of our FAQs, with no disclaimers. Try=
it! Append your archive name to
<http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/>
and see some archaic version of your own FAQ served up to the web (and,=
frustratingly, the search engines).
I say, refuse permission to take copies of your FAQ. Offer them a URL.
C.
-----
Charles Poynton=20
<mailto:poynton@poynton.com> [Mac Eudora, MIME, BinHex, UU]
<http://www.inforamp.net/~poynton/>
-----
p.s. Today I sent mail to webmaster@cis.ohio-state.edu, Cc:'d to webmaster@w=
ww.acs.ohio-state.edu and postmaster@ohio-state.edu. Any fellow FAQ=
maintainer has permission to edit and re-use this note:
Dear CIS WebMaster,
I am the proprietor of the Internet "colorspace-faq". An obsolete version of=
this FAQ is archived at the former Ohio State hypertext FAQ archives,
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/graphics/colorspace-faq=
/=20
Apparently the archive is now defunkt. To any request for the URL
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/
you redirect to a page indicating that the page has moved. But for=
subsidiary URLs, such as
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/
or anything more fully-qualified, you DO NOT redirect. Instead, you serve up=
the obsolete FAQ without disclaimer. Many instances of URLs to subsidiary=
pages are stored throughout the web. As a consequence of your serving up=
obsolete versions of my FAQ, I periodically receive e-mail reporting=
errors. Today, I received two pieces of e-mail, both reporting errors=
repaired long ago! It's just that the readers were unaware that the Ohio=
State copies are stale. Here's a note from a reader who figured that out,=
after reporting an "error":
I'm sorry,
I just found the most recent copy of your FAQ on your homepage.
Sorry for informing you of something you have already corrected.=20
Just an FYI, however:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/graphics/colorspace-faq=
/
The above URL has an outdated copy of your FAQ (hence my
presumptuous correction).=20
I'm sure this situation is repeated for many FAQ authors.=20
A year ago, Ohio State lost the opportunity to be the reference site for=
FAQs on the web - that is irretrievable. Now, though, there is a danger=
that Ohio State will be brought into disrepute, due to serving up to the=
web obsolete information. In the absence of your implementing or=
maintaining a system to keep the FAQs up to date, I urge you to completely=
remove them.
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