Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/11/26/00:31:38
On 25 Nov 1997 17:51:26 GMT in comp.os.msdos.djgpp MoZie31337 <mozie31337 AT aol DOT com> wrote:
: I see so many allegro questions in this group, I feel Allegro should have its
: own groups name comp.os.msdos.djgpp.allegro perhaps. This would greatly redust
: d/l time for articles that are DJGPP specific and then Allegro questions would
: have a group just for help with Allegro. Although I have no idea on how to get
: this done, I'm sure someone does. If anyone that feels the same way knows how
: to do this, give it a try, it will help the rest of us from d/ling an extra 200
: articles about something we are not interisted in at the momment. On the other
: hand, someone who is skimming through c.o.m.djgpp might come acrost an Allegro
: article and know how to help them. Oh-well, just a thought.
Allegro already has a mailing list devoted to it -- see the Allegro
homepage (http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/) for subscription
information. The mailing list is archived, so you do not have to be a
member to read responses to your questions.
I think also that since the creation of the Allegro mailing list
(around two months ago) the volume of Allegro questions posted here
has dropped fairly substantially. Do you think otherwise? If so,
perhaps the mailing list needs to be more advertised. This may change
as people start using the A3.0 beta, and eventually the A3.0 release,
which both have pointers in the `where to get help' sections of their
documentation.
I have here three main points to make regarding the creation of an
Allegro newsgroup:
1) If it is desired to reduce traffic on the djgpp newsgroup/mailing
list in this way, Allegro-related posts can always be made to the
Allegro mailing list instead. I can only recall noticing a few
cross-posts between the two lists, and I don't think there's any real
need to cross-post -- if a point is related to usage of the library,
it belongs on the Allegro list, whereas if a point is more of a
problem with djgpp in particular it belongs on the djgpp list. If
it's about C or C++ programming in general, it doesn't really belong
on either. The dividing line should be pretty clear, I think.
2) If the Allegro list develops in such a way that it would seem worth
proposing a news group, that can be done at that stage by a survey of
opinion on the Allegro list itself. At present, the Allegro list gets
around 20 to 30 posts per day (rough estimates), not all of which are
strictly on-topic. This doesn't seem to me to be enough to warrant
creation of a new newsgroup.
3) Note that the creation of a (real) newsgroup is neither a simple
process nor a swift one. It takes several months to complete, during
which time much discussion must take place, involving people who would
be using the newsgroup and also other people who are involved simply
to make sure the newsgroup really is worth creating. After the
discussion (and revision of the group proposal), there is a voting
period, during which time people vote on the issue. If the voting
indicates that the group should be created, it is so created;
otherwise, it cannot be reproposed for another six months. So, it's
wise not to try to create a new newsgroup unless there is sufficient
demand for it.
--
george DOT foot AT merton DOT oxford DOT ac DOT uk
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