Return to BSD News archive
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!gate2.internet-eireann.ie!news.internet-eireann.ie!jkh From: jkh@whisker.internet-eireann.ie (Jordan K. Hubbard) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs. FreeBSD Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Date: 24 Jun 1995 14:07:01 GMT Organization: Internet Eireann Lines: 43 Message-ID: <JKH.95Jun24150701@whisker.internet-eireann.ie> References: <3qfhhv$7uc@titania.pps.pgh.pa.us> <3s323f$87p@agate.berkeley.edu> <3sa7tg$fu9@park.uvsc.edu> <3sb2sr$rl8@pandora.sdsu.edu> <3sc9t4$2eh@bonnie.tcd-dresden.de> <3sfcam$12n@pandora.sdsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: whisker.internet-eireann.ie In-reply-to: larryr@saturn.sdsu.edu's message of 23 Jun 1995 21:39:33 GMT In article <3sfcam$12n@pandora.sdsu.edu> larryr@saturn.sdsu.edu (Larry Riedel) writes: My point was that I think if FreeBSD wants to have as good a reputation for convenient access to technical support of the users by the developers as Linux, then a newsgroup should be considered the "correct" place for asking questions which will be read by the developers. Well, FWIW Larry, I certainly put a fair amount of time into reading AND responding to articles here. When Nate was around, he did the same. I don't think we'll EVER ditch the newsgroups entirely, but I still think it's fair to say that far better tech support can be gotten by: 1. Using the send-pr command. 2. Send a message to questions@freebsd.org 3. Send a message to bugs@freebsd.org #1 is of key importance as there's a lot more we can OFFER with the GNATS bug tracking mechanism than we ever could with the newsgroups. If you use send-pr then you get a tracking number assigned to you, you get automatic notification when the bug is escalated, de-escalated or closed, and if you subscribe to bugs@freebsd.org then you also get a weekly list of which bugs are open. I think it's more than fair to say that FreeBSD needs to have a net.presence in order to compete more evenly with Linux, but I also think it's fair to say that there are a number of inherent limitations to USENET (not least of which is a _horrible_ signal-to-noise ratio) and that it's not a crime to say "We will try to support USENET, but in no circumstances will we be able to support you as WELL as we can with the mailing lists and the bug tracking database." Most of our developers work in "interrupt mode", not in "polling mode", and USENET requires the latter. I can't force anyone to read USENET if they don't want to, and while there are some of us here who will always try to make the extra effort, if the rest don't and just prefer to have something drop into their mailbox when there's a problem then there's nothing I can do except say "folks, please use the mailing lists for better service!" Jordan