Do you read INFO-MAC?

[News Administrator]

In the beginning there was INFO-MAC, which was the word, and the
source of all knowledge. INFO-MAC was known by many names, including
fa.info-mac, mod.computers.macintosh, mod.mac, and perhaps someday
comp.mac.

There's always been an overlap with net.micro.mac, but it seems like
the two groups have changed in the last few months. So, if:

A) you read news regularly

B) you read at least one news group or mailing list regarding
the Apple Macintosh

I would appreciate it if you would respond to the questionaire below.
Based on your response to Question #1 below, please send your response to:

gould9!mac-yes
gould9!mac-no

Common paths include
ihnp4!gould9 decwrl!pyramid!gould9 seismo!s3sun!gould9
decvax!sdcsvax!gould9 cbosgd!gould9
mac-xxx%gou...@NOSC.ARPA (or gould9!mac...@nosc.arpa)

Also, to make it easy to mechanically tabulate results, please
list the response to the questions in the subject line, as in:

mail ihnp4!gould9!mac-yes
Subject: YYNYNNYYYE

If you have any comments, feel free to include them. If you have
other queries, please address them to gould9!mac-poll.

Of course, the results will be posted to the net when complete.
------------------
1) Do you read INFO-MAC, either through mod.mac or as part of a mailing list?
2) Do you read the Delphi Digests, published in mod.mac, and
previously under net.micro.mac?
3) Do you read the Usenet Digests, available from SUMEX-AIM?
4) Do you read net.micro.mac?
5) Have you posted to INFO-MAC?
6) Have you posted to net.micro.mac?
7) Does your site receive mod.mac?
8) Does your site receive mod.mac.binaries and mod.mac.sources?
9) Does your site receive net.sources.mac?
10) If you were to receive only one of the current Mac newsgroups,
which would you prefer:
A) mod.mac
B) net.micro.mac
C) mod.mac.{binaries,sources}
D) net.sources.mac
E) unsure
11) Please give any comments, such as on the quality of response obtained
from prior postings, Signal/noise ratio, timeliness, technical
depth, etc....
--
News administrator for gould9 (Joel West)
{cbosgd,ihnp4,pyramid,sdcsvax,ucla-cs}!gould9!news
gould9!ne...@nosc.ARPA

[Joel West]

I had earlier posted a survey to USENET readers of net.micro.mac asking
about what Macintosh news groups they read and liked.

The answers are below; some totals don't add up because some people
didn't give 10 answers. Not suprisingly, net.micro.mac readers
read INFO-MAC.

Predictably, those that like mod.mac deplore the low signal/noise of
net.micro.mac, particularly with the perennial flame wars (e.g, amiga
vs. mac). Those that like net.micro.mac like its timeliness. Both are
accurate assessments. Also, some USENET members say they don't know how
to post to INFO-MAC from their UUCP-only site.

Among the comments, some felt net.micro.mac was too technical; others felt
it was clutterred with too many non-technical discussions.

Personal comment:
I posted the survey because I wanted to know which of the three
newsgroups:
- to read
- to save (in printed form, in a binder)
- to post queries and comments to
I've felt recently that I must read all three (including delphi
digests) to get the most out of the net. At one point, early on,
INFO-MAC was much, much, more useful than net.micro.mac, as will
be true with a well-run moderated newsgroup with a strong readership.
I suspect its preeminence was killed during its long hiatus, when
everyone had to find an alternative.

Joel West MCI Mail: 282-8879
Western Software Technology, POB 2733, Vista, CA 92083
{cbosgd, ihnp4, pyramid, sdcsvax, ucla-cs} !gould9!joel
joel%gould...@NOSC.ARPA

---------------------------Survey results follow-------------------------
A total of 64 responses were received.

1) Do you read INFO-MAC, either through mod.mac or as part of a mailing list?

Y) 61 (95%)
N) 3 (4%)

2) Do you read the Delphi Digests, published in mod.mac, and previously under
net.micro.mac?

Y) 55 (85%)
N) 9 (14%)

3) Do you read the Usenet Digests, available from SUMEX-AIM?

N) 57 (89%)
Y) 7 (10%)

4) Do you read net.micro.mac?

Y) 63 (98%)
N) 1 (1%)

5) Have you posted to INFO-MAC?

N) 48 (75%)
Y) 16 (25%)

6) Have you posted to net.micro.mac?

Y) 61 (95%)
N) 3 (4%)

7) Does your site receive mod.mac?

Y) 61 (95%)
N) 3 (4%)

8) Does your site receive mod.mac.binaries and mod.mac.sources?

Y) 62 (96%)
N) 2 (3%)

9) Does your site receive net.sources.mac?

N) 48 (75%)
Y) 16 (25%)

10) If you were to receive only one of the current Mac newsgroups,
which would you prefer:

A) 11 (17%) mod.mac
C) 11 (17%) net.micro.mac
B) 9 (14%) mod.mac.{binaries,sources}
D) 2 (3%) net.sources.mac
E) 27 (42%) unsure/no answer
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