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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nexus.coast.net!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!library.ucla.edu!news.bc.net!felix.junction.net!okjunc.junction.net!michael From: michael@okjunc.junction.net (Michael Dillon) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs. FreeBSD Date: 23 Jun 1995 06:21:35 GMT Organization: Okanagan Internet Junction, Vernon B.C., Canada Lines: 68 Message-ID: <3sdmhf$tm1@felix.junction.net> References: <3qfhhv$7uc@titania.pps.pgh.pa.us> <3sb2sr$rl8@pandora.sdsu.edu> <3scfhp$sno@park.uvsc.edu> <3sd2ml$16e@pandora.sdsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: okjunc.junction.net In article <3sd2ml$16e@pandora.sdsu.edu>, Larry Riedel <larryr@saturn.sdsu.edu> wrote: >Terry Lambert (terry@cs.weber.edu) wrote: >Uh, I don't really have to subscribe to a newsgroup to post a question >and ask for a personal E-mail response either, but since many (most?) >questions have more than one person who would like to get the answer, >I don't want to blindly launch mine into a mailing list to which I do >not subscribe and ask for a personal response any more than I would >do the same for a USENET newsgroup. But that's what the mailing list is for. Do it. If you think the answer is useful to other people, post a summary to this newsgroup. Do it. >> A lot of people are not fully net >> connected: they are limited to email, etc. This includes some >> of the developers, especially those in Eastern Block countries. >> >> Expecting a news feed as the price of admission to "the kindom of >> the developers" is a little elitest. > >What are these people using to get E-mail? Couldn't they use UUCP? Are you aware that there are LOTS of places in the world like the Republic of Byelorus whose entire Internet connection is one single 9600 bps SLIP line to the outside world? Sure they could (and they DO) augment that with UUCP connections, but then they pay long distance fees for every byte that is transmitted and unless they are the person paying the bills, they don't get to choose what newsgroups are carried. >If so, why don't they get a newsfeed of the appropriate groups? >How much would that cost, and what could the FreeBSD community do to >help defray it? What is the price cutoff for "elitest" anyway, and >what happened to them not having the "news-reading time?" All of a >sudden I find the truth that these geographically challenged people >have the time but are hapless victims of USENET elitism! (: You are really beginning to sound like the stereotypical arrogant American idiot who doesn't understand why everybody in the world doesn't do things his way. This is no way to win friends and influence people! >My personal opinion as far as FreeBSD goes from what I have seen in >this newsgroup is that too much emphasis has been placed on pandering >to neophytes, which I think is not where FreeBSD has any strategic >advantage over Linux or ever will; nevertheless, I think that this >newsgroup is the best place for the questions of non-neophytes, and >that developers should be here to read and respond to those questions. Non-neophytes have the O'Reilly 4.4lite manuals or they ask their questions in news.software.nntp or comp.unix.wizards or one of the other couple of dozen more appropriate newsgroups. Or they join the mailing lists. >So why is this better than having the question and the answer posted >to the newsgroup in the first place? There are many many times when I have asked a question and it was never answered in a newsgroup, only in e-mail. If it wasn't just some dumb thing on my part, I would post a summary answer to the newsgroup. That's netiquette and if the posters in this newsgroup don't follow that rule then it is *NOT* the responsibility of the FreeBSD team. -- Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-549-1036 Network Operations Fax: +1-604-542-4130 Okanagan Internet Junction Internet: michael@junction.net http://www.junction.net - The Okanagan's 1st full-service Internet provider