Newsgroup too big?
Hardrock Mailing List
covers a little too much? I was gone all last week and when I returned from
my spring break, there must have been several THOUSAND articles in this
newsgroup! It's very formidable to try and wade through that many articles
to find the 10 or so that I was interested in. I happen to like rock/hardrock
and since there aren't that many articles about bands I'm interested in, it's
quite overwhelming to sort through everything on this newsgroup. I find the
information and discussion to be great, and I really value it, so I don't
want to stop subscribing to the newsgroup. But all I have to do is not check
this group for a few days and I've got a massive task to go through
everything.
Anyone else feel this way, or am I just a lone whiner? Perhaps I just don't
have the time that everyone else does. I just can't help but feel the
newsgroup would be easier to read if perhaps it was split into several
groups, similar to alt.rock-n-roll. Going through hundreds of articles every
couple days is frustrating, and I'm sure I miss a lot of good discussion
because I don't have the time to read every subject line.
Ah well, I'll shut up. It's not likely that the newsgroup will change, I just
wonder if there's anyone who shares my sentiments.
Phil Wilson
--
testing
Robert Davis
Hardrock Mailing List <wil...@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> wrote:
>
>Anyone else feel this way, or am I just a lone whiner? Perhaps I just don't
>have the time that everyone else does. I just can't help but feel the
>newsgroup would be easier to read if perhaps it was split into several
>groups, similar to alt.rock-n-roll. Going through hundreds of articles every
>couple days is frustrating, and I'm sure I miss a lot of good discussion
>because I don't have the time to read every subject line.
>
It is a problem. But, first of all, don't use the alt groups
as a model of organization. In order for divisions to be successful
you have to come up with hard and clear divisions that equally divide
the volume of the current group, roughly, and people must stick to
them.
But it's hard to do that with music because it is constantly
changing. What's "hard core" now won't be in five years. And I would
find myself reading almost all of the groups because I have relatively
diverse tastes. Also, in talking about one group, it's common to
mention other musicians they've worked with, which could cross styles,
and you end up with the wrong subject being discussed in the wrong
group.
Also note that the traffic fluctuates, largely in sync with
universities. May, June, July, and August are slow.
One of the best solutions to the problem is to use better news
reading software -- really. (An editorial in a recent issue of Wired
made the point that after the current information explosion, the most
popular genre of software is likely to be, not those that help you
create information, like word processors or image editors, but rather
those that help you organize and seek out from a huge world-wide pool
the particular bits of information that interest you.)
Seriously -- a news reader that can sort articles and keep
trees of articles that go together and allow you to select only those
threads that you are interested in will help *immensely*.
Rob
--
| Robert Davis da...@sonata.cc.purdue.edu
| "Look up, Hannah." NeXT Mail accepted
--
James c Black
>
>I don't mean to whine or complain, but does anyone else think this newsgroup
>covers a little too much? I was gone all last week and when I returned from
>my spring break, there must have been several THOUSAND articles in this
>newsgroup!
(middle excused)
>Ah well, I'll shut up. It's not likely that the newsgroup will change, I just
>wonder if there's anyone who shares my sentiments.
>
>Phil Wilson
Share your sentiments? HA! I'm on the same waves as you. Daily
reading is even hard to do. Talk about chaos. I'm afraid to
check this group only to find too many articles saying
"re: re:this isn't about Christian music, BUT on that other note...."
Perhaps a discussion/TANGENT group. I'm all for other discussion
thats been spured from this group, but seems it gets crazy here.
James_______________
Jcbl...@mik.uky.edu
University of Kentucky College of Architecture CADLab
Miles O'Neal
Dear whiner,
maybe you should get a REAL newsreader.
melissa,
presidentrix of lesbians-4-jesus news softwear, inc
[it's still april 1 west of here]
Steve Mooradian
At first when I started reading this group I thought the same things
myself. But in actuality the general mental level on this group is pretty
low (same for all of UseNet).... so I don't think you could get very many
people to limit the talk to music talk. I got flamed for suggesting such a
thing........ go figure.
--
*****************************************************************************
STEPHEN MOORADIAN ----- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ----- moo...@rpi.edu
*****************************************************************************
-= Just your average guitar-whaling, dittohead, cadet, nuclear engineer,
get-out-of-my-face, hacking, politically INcorrect, raw but lovable guy =-
Tom Moellering
Robert Davis <da...@sonata.cc.purdue.edu> wrote:
>In article <wilsonp....@ucsu.colorado.edu>,
>Hardrock Mailing List <wil...@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>Anyone else feel this way, or am I just a lone whiner? Perhaps I just don't
>>have the time that everyone else does. I just can't help but feel the
>>newsgroup would be easier to read if perhaps it was split into several
>>groups, similar to alt.rock-n-roll. Going through hundreds of articles every
>>couple days is frustrating, and I'm sure I miss a lot of good discussion
>>because I don't have the time to read every subject line.
>>
>
> It is a problem. But, first of all, don't use the alt groups
>as a model of organization. In order for divisions to be successful
>you have to come up with hard and clear divisions that equally divide
>the volume of the current group, roughly, and people must stick to
>them.
>
> But it's hard to do that with music because it is constantly
>changing. What's "hard core" now won't be in five years. And I would
>find myself reading almost all of the groups because I have relatively
>diverse tastes. Also, in talking about one group, it's common to
>mention other musicians they've worked with, which could cross styles,
>and you end up with the wrong subject being discussed in the wrong
>group.
And its even harder to do that in a group where we have deliberately mixed
2 usually controversial subject: musical-artistry and religion/christianity.
>
> Also note that the traffic fluctuates, largely in sync with
>universities. May, June, July, and August are slow.
>
> One of the best solutions to the problem is to use better news
>reading software -- really. (An editorial in a recent issue of Wired
>made the point that after the current information explosion, the most
>popular genre of software is likely to be, not those that help you
>create information, like word processors or image editors, but rather
>those that help you organize and seek out from a huge world-wide pool
>the particular bits of information that interest you.)
>
> Seriously -- a news reader that can sort articles and keep
>trees of articles that go together and allow you to select only those
>threads that you are interested in will help *immensely*.
Good point Robert! I admit: I was the one who flamed the last guy who
brought splitting the group up. But as you point out with legitimate
3rd party published material, it does make a difference in how you generally
perceive this bandwidth we call the internet, and specifically r.m.c.
(I heartily recommend trn -XX. Imagine seeing this when you look at news:
rec.music.christian
a Ack 5 >Syndicate/BQN/CCM Bashing
Ack
Ack
Ack
John Streck
b TROY D PIPER 3 >RAP FANZ ANYWHERE IN HERE?
Jeff Parks
Jason Frisvold
d John Merk 3 >History of CCM
Michael Matthews
Tony Brown
e TROY D PIPER 10 >Arrested Development and other embarassments
Steve Mooradian
Tony Brown
Douglas Pearson
Dawn Suchy
clopton preston
Tony Brown
ALAN T WILLCOX
clopton preston
fsp...@aurora.al
SystematicWeepin 1 >Arrested Development and other embaras
You just type the letter in the left-margin of the subject line that
interests you, or page to the next list of topics. And once you've
read something, its gone, you never have to read the same article twice.
On the other hand I realize that I am in favor of the present system
(i.e. not splitting) because I have learned how to deal with it, and because
like Robert, I too am interested in a wide variety of styles, so I would
still be subscribing to almost all of the sub-groups. Even so, I still
believe that splitting into sub-categories to be the wrong direction.
If nothing else, it leaves the newbies even more out in the cold, since
they might be missing conversations they are interested in.
A lot of our problem is that this is an unmoderated group. All of those
postings that aren't sticking to the subject are symptomatic of a system
that allows for a completely free discussion, instead of the imposition
of only 1 man's idea of what constitutes musical christianity (or is that
christian musicality?) Try to remember that the next time net-dating comes
up on this newsgroup, I know I will be trying my best as well.
Lets all try to be a little more loving and understanding, and when our topic
starts to wander completely afield of the music thang, to take it to the
christianity/theology/dating newsgroups, and vice versa as well. Of course
if its a small topic, direct email is a nice alternative as well. Just think
of newsgroups/email as the CB-radio of the information superhighway ;-)
Tom (moe...@convex.com)
Amazing how slugs know,
More about the weather.
Amazing / The Choir / Kissers And Killers