news group

[klaatu]

On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, David Gobbi wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Vetle Roeim wrote:
> 
> > on 2000-02-23, owner-vtkusers at public.kitware.com wrote:
> >  
> > > I have had several requests for a vtk newsgroup in addition to the
> > > mailing list.   I am not sure how to set one up.  However,
> > > it looks like someone in Leuven Belgium was doing something like a 
> > > news group, but I think it is broken.
> > 
> > alternativly we could move the whole thing to
> > comp.graphics.visualization. there's not much activity there anyway..
> > 
> > (btw; the python community has a mailinglist that mirrors the newsgroup
> > (comp.lang.py), and vice versa)
> > 
> > I think a vtk newsgroup is *very* good idea.
> >  
> > vr
> 
> If a newsgroup is created for VTK, the name of it should be 
> "comp.graphics.api.vtk", to match the existing .api.inventor, 
> .api.opengl, and .api.misc groups.
> 
> Having a searchable, threaded mailing list archive might be better
> than a newsgroup, though.  Is anyone interested in maintaining one?
> Either that, or someone could determine exactly what is involved
> in getting some VTK pages set up at sourceforge.net -- they provide
> mail-list archiving and several other services.

Yikes -- setting up a HyperMail page would be an excellent idea, it's sort
of a mess to impliment. Basically, the list server should be changed to a
majordomo if it is not already such, a user should be subscribed to the
group as "archive at kitware.com" and you can take the resulting
/var/spool/mail/archive file and run that through HyperMail. A newsgroup
could be set up, moderated (it will have to be) with semi-automatic
moderation probided by software, automatiically forwarding every post to
archive at kitware.com -- not hard to do, if Kitware wants to run the primary
newsserver for the group, as well as generate the HyperMail. It would also
be quite possible to have most posts to the mailing list also have a
newsgroup header... which might simplify things for those people who
prefer to have mail come to them and don't want to go find WWW or UseNet
resources. But it's also a source of potential looping, or at least
duplication if HyperMail is run across the mailing archive. This needs
some discussion, certainly. 

The real challenge will be getting the vote through comp.config if the
newsgroup option is favored (doubtless with a no-expire spool for archival
purposes) -- it will definitely take time and I don't have the time to
prosecute it to success, which can take a year and quite a lot of personal
politicking. But in the end it might prove to be the best solution, even
though it takes a bit of effort to open a newsreader and check the group.
It will easily be archived, with the archive easily converted to HyperMail
WWWboard. But there will also be the problems with Spammers. Anyone
wishing to take this approach will wish to spend some time in
news:news.admin.net-abuse.usenet

Cheers, 

> 
>  - David
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> This is the private VTK discussion list. Please keep messages on-topic.
> Check the FAQ at: <http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/vtkfaq>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, send message body containing "unsubscribe vtkusers" to
> <majordomo at public.kitware.com>. For help, send message body containing
> "info vtkusers" to the same address.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> 

    Be kind to your neighbors, even though they be transgenic chimerae.
          Re-transmission of this e-mail expressly prohibited. 
  Non-UseNet re-transmission of this article is a willful violation of US
 Copyright Law and the Berne Convention. Statutory damages are $250,000.00
Whom thou'st vex'd waxeth wroth: Meow.      http://www.clark.net/pub/klaatu/

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the private VTK discussion list. Please keep messages on-topic.
Check the FAQ at: <http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/vtkfaq>
To UNSUBSCRIBE, send message body containing "unsubscribe vtkusers" to
<majordomo at public.kitware.com>. For help, send message body containing
"info vtkusers" to the same address.
--------------------------------------------------------------------