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Subject: 
Re: Informal CFD: robotics competition newsgroup(s)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.admin.general
Date: 
Tue, 19 Jan 1999 15:13:40 GMT
Viewed: 
1878 times
  
On Tue, 19 Jan 1999 09:48:15 GMT, lehman@javanet.com (Todd Lehman)
wrote:

Let's throw another data point into the equation:  A specialized/focused ng
for Dave Baum's _Not_Quite_C_ language/compiler.  Would something like this
go best as lugnet.robotics.nqc or in a new place like lugnet.comp.lang.nqc?
(Someday, for example, there might be a lugnet.comp.lang.logo for Logo
programming.)

I could go either way.  I suppose that a lugnet.comp.* hierarchy could
expand someday, to cover various software packages and online stuff.

No, wait.  I changed my mind.  How much potential is there for
*computer-centered* discussion on lugnet?  This is lego we're talking
about.  If we're talking about online playing, that would be CAD or
events or something.  The computer is a tool, not an object of
discussion.

So I guess lugnet.robotics.nqc would be better.  Even
lugnet.robotics.lang.nqc, if you wanted to leave room for
lugnet.robotics.lang.hist^H^H^H^Hlogo.

I'm still not thrilled about sub-grouping under lugnet.robotics, because
of its dual nature.  But that's just my opinion.  No underlying facts or
data.  Wait, here's one: the majority of l.r's content comes from the
mailing list.

I was talking with Dave a bit about starting up a focus-group for NQC.
While a dedicated newsgroup wasn't something that he had considered
proposing (he's a modest guy :), he was enthusiastic about the idea and says
he would be a regular contributor and be present to answer questions and so
forth if a group were created.  He also noted that an advantage of a
dedicated newsgroup would be the centralization of all NQC questions/issues
in one place.

With over 3000 downloads of NQC and 100 people having sent Dave mail about
it
(including ports to other platforms, sample code, documentation, and web
page graphics), it seems like it has quite a following.

It sounds like it is definitely a newsgroup waiting to happen.

One thing, also IMO, lugnet.robotics is an
odd bird, since it is very mailing-list related[2], so I lean away from
adding subgroups under it.

But is it really so different from other ng's because of the second mail
gateway?

Yes, because the mailing list is a separate entity.  Heck, the mailing
is the *main* entity.  In the other lugnet ng's, the mailing list can be
viewed as an echo of the newsgroup.  For lugnet.robotics, it's more like
the newsgroup is an echo of the mailing list.

It's just like any other ng here, except it just happens to have
two mailing lists connected to it instead of only one, and the second
mailing list has a separate subscriber-base.

I'd say that's a pretty important difference.

For example, here's a breakdown of the origins of the last 400 articles
posted to the .robotics ng (about 10 days' worth of articles):

    #      %   Message Origin                         Transfer method
  ---  -----   -------------------------------------  ---------------------
  258   64.5   mailto:lego-robotics@crynwr.com        SMTP (e-mail gateway)
  122   30.5   news://lugnet.com/lugnet.robotics      HTTP (web interface)
   13    3.2   http://www.lugnet.com/news/post/       NNTP (netnews)
    7    1.8   mailto:lugnet.robotics@lugnet.com      SMTP (e-mail gateway)
  ===  =====
  400  100.0

Fundamentally, from a message-origin point of view, the only difference
between lugnet.robotics and other lugnet.* ng's is that there are 4 lines in
the chart above rather than 3.

An additional difference (not to beat on the point too much), 2 out of
every 3 messages comes from the independant mail-list server.

Say, what about these--?

  lugnet.robotics.events
  lugnet.robotics.events.robot-arena

Hey, I think I actually that!

Those sound good.

But a general-purpose lugnet.events hierarchy would be interesting, too.

Steve
[1] In this case, the 'gaming' charter would be to cover physical events
of people getting together (either physically or through the internet)
and playing games or participating in competitions.  It would not
include discussion of various software or RPGs written to use LEGO.
[...]

If there was a .gaming or .games hierarchy, and RPGs weren't a part of it,
I wonder what other types of games and competitions would go there besides
robotics competitions?  For example, I have difficulty imagining people
having Cyber Slam tournaments.  :-)

I meant that general discussion of RPGs wasn't what I meant when I
mentioned .games..  But discussion & planning for get-togethers to play
LEGO-based RPGs would be part of the charter.

Steve



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Informal CFD: robotics competition newsgroup(s)
 
(...) Good point. If ever there is any .comp.* hierarchy, maybe it'll end up being inside the .off-topic.* hierarchy. Sure seems to be a lot of good geeking going on lately there in terms of overclocking CPUs and video cards and all that great (...) (26 years ago, 19-Jan-99, to lugnet.admin.general)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Informal CFD: robotics competition newsgroup(s)
 
(...) Let's throw another data point into the equation: A specialized/focused ng for Dave Baum's _Not_Quite_C_ language/compiler. Would something like this go best as lugnet.robotics.nqc or in a new place like lugnet.comp.lang.nqc? (Someday, for (...) (26 years ago, 19-Jan-99, to lugnet.admin.general)

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