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Norman Gray

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Aug 3, 2010, 12:52:24 PM8/3/10
to nor...@astro.gla.ac.uk

Greetings.

A little while ago, Julian Lamas-Rodriguez posted about the new LaTeX
and TeX subsite of stackexchange. That proposal made progress, was
provisionally accepted, had a private beta, and is now in public beta,
at <http://tex.stackexchange.com>. The URL will probably change when
the community has settled on a replacement.

The site now has a collection of good questions and good answers,
seeded during the period when it was in private beta.

It seems that on the site there are currently:
240 questions
642 answers
97% answered
291 users
1,840 views/day

It seems to be working, and I heartily exhort the people here to take
a look, as it looks like the new site could become another very
valuable resource for TeX and LaTeX on the web.

Speaking for myself, I'd been very dubious about stackexchange sites,
because when I'd landed there in the past from google they looked too
much like the hateful and useless 'forums'. Following Julian's
posting a month or so ago, however, I took a proper look around, and
I'm now a convert. The stackexchange sites -- this TeX one is one
example, http://stackoverflow.com is another, related to programming
-- are more structured than forums, and clearly more long-lived, but
flexible enough to support conversation, and with a culture which
seems to promote the right sort of seriousness.

-----

There's a change in the wind. Just today I discovered that the JANET
News Service, which provided an nntp feed to our campus and, I
imagine, several other UK ones, has been shut down due to decaying
infrastructure and a decline in perceived need. I'm posting this
through Google Groups. Yuck. Could people cc me on any responses in
this thread? -- nor...@astro.gla.ac.uk

After nearly 20 years of nntp-based c.t.t, it looks like getting here
will become increasingly difficult. Ah, well.

All the best,

Norman

Peter Flynn

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Aug 3, 2010, 4:50:22 PM8/3/10
to
On 03/08/10 17:52, Norman Gray wrote:
[...]

> After nearly 20 years of nntp-based c.t.t, it looks like getting here
> will become increasingly difficult.

Do what I did when mine shut down: open an NNTP account for €10/year
with individual.de

///Peter

Joseph Wright

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Aug 4, 2010, 4:04:01 AM8/4/10
to

Good value indeed: I'll be taking a look!
--
Joseph Wright

Josef Kleber

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Aug 4, 2010, 7:31:45 AM8/4/10
to

Or www.eternal-september.org! It's free and has excellent service.

Josef

--
Keine Sicherheit ohne Schäuble:
GNUPG/PGP-Key unter http://www.josef-kleber.de/pgp/Josef_Kleber_News.asc
DSA 1024 / 0xF4B1EA2A / F832 6058 319E FFD4 0EFF 088C 521B 40D4 F4B1 EA2A

pluton

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Aug 4, 2010, 8:31:45 AM8/4/10
to
is http://tex.stackexchange.com buggy today or? because I cannot have
access. Thanks

Julián Lamas

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Aug 4, 2010, 11:49:04 AM8/4/10
to nor...@astro.gla.ac.uk
Thank you very much, Norman. I encourage everyone to at least take a
look at the site and give their opinions. The community is very active
and it is growing little by little. A great number of excellent people
are already working hard to make the best of the site. Thank you very
much for your help.

http://tex.stackexchange.com

On Aug 4, 2:31 pm, pluton <plutones...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ishttp://tex.stackexchange.combuggy today or? because I cannot have
> access. Thanks

I checked a moment ago and the site is up and running.

Best regards.

--
Julian

Norman Gray

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Aug 4, 2010, 12:26:59 PM8/4/10
to
In article <i3bj31$c6g$1...@kleberj.eternal-september.org>,
Josef Kleber <josef....@nurfuerspam.de> wrote:

> Or www.eternal-september.org! It's free and has excellent service.

...and appears to work for me. Hmm: that was easy.

Thanks also for the individual.de suggestion, Peter, but
eternal-september.org seems to have been reliable for the entire five
minutes of my usage of it so far. I suspect they mange to remain free
by carrying only text groups.

Best wishes,

Norman
[suddenly remembering that the point of this thread was to plug
http://tex.stackexchange.com !]

--
Norman Gray : http://nxg.me.uk

Jonathan Fine

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Aug 4, 2010, 4:21:58 PM8/4/10
to
Norman Gray wrote:

> It seems to be working, and I heartily exhort the people here to take
> a look, as it looks like the new site could become another very
> valuable resource for TeX and LaTeX on the web.

I'm all in favour of this initiative, and will contribute just as soon
as I have some spare time. Many thanks to all those who worked to set
it up. Well done.

--
Jonathan

Dmitrijs Ledkovs

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Aug 4, 2010, 9:23:38 PM8/4/10
to
pluton <pluto...@gmail.com> writes:

> is http://tex.stackexchange.com buggy today or? because I cannot have
> access. Thanks

It started to be buggy for me as well =(

Norman Gray

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Aug 5, 2010, 5:21:32 AM8/5/10
to

Greetings.

In article <871vads...@ubuntu.com>,
Dmitrijs Ledkovs <dmitrij...@ubuntu.com> wrote:

How odd. It's been solid as a rock for me, and I see it shares a host
with <http://stackoverflow.com>, which is a much bigger operation than
the TeX site and will have a non-trivial load. What problems are you
seeing?

Best wishes,

Norman

Robin Fairbairns

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Aug 5, 2010, 8:40:14 AM8/5/10
to nor...@astro.gla.ac.uk
Norman Gray <norman...@gmail.com> writes:

> A little while ago, Julian Lamas-Rodriguez posted about the new LaTeX
> and TeX subsite of stackexchange. That proposal made progress, was
> provisionally accepted, had a private beta, and is now in public beta,
> at <http://tex.stackexchange.com>. The URL will probably change when
> the community has settled on a replacement.
>
> The site now has a collection of good questions and good answers,
> seeded during the period when it was in private beta.
>
> It seems that on the site there are currently:
> 240 questions
> 642 answers
> 97% answered
> 291 users
> 1,840 views/day
>
> It seems to be working, and I heartily exhort the people here to take
> a look, as it looks like the new site could become another very
> valuable resource for TeX and LaTeX on the web.

i've looked. i doubt i shall be posting there -- the structure gives me
the willies. (i may pick out bits and pieces from answers there, for
the faq, but it's already beyond the size where i have time available
for scanning the whole thing.)

anyone want a faq to maintain? one slightly disorganised owner...

> There's a change in the wind. Just today I discovered that the JANET
> News Service, which provided an nntp feed to our campus and, I
> imagine, several other UK ones, has been shut down due to decaying
> infrastructure and a decline in perceived need. I'm posting this
> through Google Groups. Yuck. Could people cc me on any responses in
> this thread? -- nor...@astro.gla.ac.uk
>
> After nearly 20 years of nntp-based c.t.t, it looks like getting here
> will become increasingly difficult. Ah, well.

other services are available. just now, i'm using a server run by an
ex-member of my department, but i'm not averse to spending a few euros
per year to use news.individual.net, if it proves necessary. (as a last
resort, i might even try the server provided by my isp, though if
supposedly serious organisations are dropping nntp in favour of the
"modern" point-click-drool methods, one doubts isps will keep it up for
long. we're all doomed, i tell you...)
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge

Norman Gray

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Aug 5, 2010, 11:19:23 AM8/5/10
to

Greetings.

In article <qf1vadi...@sxp10.cl.cam.ac.uk>,
Robin Fairbairns <rf...@sxp10.cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:

> Norman Gray <norman...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > at <http://tex.stackexchange.com>. The URL will probably change when

> i've looked. i doubt i shall be posting there -- the structure gives me


> the willies. (i may pick out bits and pieces from answers there, for
> the faq, but it's already beyond the size where i have time available
> for scanning the whole thing.)

That seems reasonable. If no-one objects, I might well post pointers
to particularly interesting questions and answers here. Or to the noble
FAQ maintainer directly?

> > There's a change in the wind. Just today I discovered that the JANET
> > News Service, which provided an nntp feed to our campus and, I
> > imagine, several other UK ones, has been shut down due to decaying
> > infrastructure and a decline in perceived need.

> other services are available. just now, i'm using a server run by an


> ex-member of my department, but i'm not averse to spending a few euros
> per year to use news.individual.net, if it proves necessary.

eternal-september.org is working so far for me (and I really like the
name!)

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