*BSD News Article 4345


Return to BSD News archive

Xref: sserve gnu.misc.discuss:6057 comp.org.eff.talk:8858 comp.unix.bsd:4393 comp.os.mach:2012
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,comp.org.eff.talk,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach
Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!buster!uhura1!bryan
From: bryan@uhura1.uucp (Bryan Curnutt)
Subject: Re: AT&T Long Distance Boycott (was: BNR2SS, Mach, and The Lawsuit)
Message-ID: <1992Sep1.090548.8351@uhura1.uucp>
Reply-To: bryan%uhura1@uunet.uu.net
Organization: Stoner Associates, Inc./DREM Incorporated, Houston Texas
References: <9070PB1w164w@underg.UUCP> <1992Aug29.235059.23907@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <UecUwQO00iUz81B9Qv@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 09:05:48 GMT
Lines: 36

In article <UecUwQO00iUz81B9Qv@andrew.cmu.edu> sean+@andrew.cmu.edu (Sean McLinden) writes:
>
>I suspect that the best way to approach this would be a general posting to
>the entire netnews community informing them, in a succinct manner, what is
>the situation, what are the issues and alternatives, and what is the
>recommended course of action (switching long distance carriers).
>
>[...] It should be
>posted to ALL newsgroups as it affects all of us.

It should NOT be posted to all newsgroups.

First, it does not affect "all of us."  People reading news under
VMS, DOS, MacOS, and other non-UNIX operating systems may not care
about AT&T's legal actions regarding UNIX.

Second, a huge number of newsgroups are clearly inappropriate for
this type of posting.  Readers of rec.music.gdead or sci.aquaria
or even comp.sources.unix really don't need to have "Boycott AT&T"
messages shoved in their faces.

Third, it is extremely bad netiquette to indulge in massive
cross-posting.  It's annoying.  And in some (non-UNIX) sectors of
the net it wastes disk space -- you're talking about >1000 extra
articles if you include the alt.* groups.

If you're confused about any of this, please read the articles
with the following titles in news.announce.newusers:

  Rules for posting to Usenet
  A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
  Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
-- 
Any opinions above are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of SAI.
Bryan Curnutt
bryan%uhura1@uunet.uu.net