Source Code 1992 March/Source_Code_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_March_1992.iso/usenet/compsrcs/misc/volume07/v7welc.ome

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From decwrl!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!allbery Sat May 27 17:59:17 PDT 1989
Article 887 of comp.sources.misc:
Path: decwrl!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!allbery
From: [e-mail] (Brandon S. Allbery - comp.sources.misc)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.misc
Subject: v07INF1: Welcome to comp.sources.misc! (Last changed: 5/20/89)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 May 89 02:25:46 GMT
Expires: 28 May 89 04:06:00 GMT
Sender: [e-mail]
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Brandon S. Allbery)
Organization: UUNET Communications Services, Arlington, VA
Lines: 198
Approved: [e-mail] (Brandon S. Allbery - comp.sources.misc)

Posting-number: Volume 7, Administrivia 1
Submitted-by: [e-mail] (Brandon S. Allbery)
Archive-name: v7welcome

[comp.sources.misc is now officially on UUNET.  !!!PLEASE!!! stop sending
comp.sources.misc-related mail to me on ncoast!  The aliases on ncoast will
disappear on 6/1/89.

The only important change is that I've dropped the possibility of testing
submissions.  Maybe someday I'll have a local Internet account so I can
get on here daily and test stuff; until then, forget it.  Aside from that,
I've altered the wording the bit, but nothing important.  ++bsa]

This is the first of two messages comprising the periodic Welcome! posting for
comp.sources.misc.  Hopefully, any questions you have will be answered here;
if they are not, send mail to me (comp-sources-misc-request@<backbone>), the
moderator.

This message is the Welcome! document, which describes my policies and
commitments.  The second part of this posting is the Index for the newsgroup;
archive requests are best handled by specifying the Archive-Name or
volume/issue number for the posting, or alternatively my Message-ID.  Please
do NOT use the article number within the newsgroup:  this varies based on lost
messages or articles received out of sequence, and is purely local.

> Introduction <

Comp.sources.misc is sort of a "catch-all" sources group.  The intent is that
small sources, non-Un*x sources for which no newsgroup exists, and sources
which the moderators of comp.sources.unix and comp.sources.games will not
accept can be sent here.  This does not mean that large Un*x sources will not
be accepted, but they will probably gain a wider distribution if they are
sent to comp.sources.unix.  They also slow down the flow of sources through
this newsgroup, as they are processed and posted separately.

As a result, the group will be run in an informal fashion.  In general,
*any* program source code will be accepted, but discussion will be routed to
comp.sources.d and "sources wanted" requests to comp.sources.wanted, rather
than cluttering this newsgroup.  (Please do not send either to me, they don't
belong here.)

This newsgroup isn't expected to be a high-volume one, since the "big" stuff
should be sent elsewhere.  However, it is to be hoped that people still have
the desire to post their favorite prompt generators, integer square root
algorithms, etc.  (If the last days of net.sources are any indication, they
do.)

> Why moderated? <

The moderated comp.sources.misc replaced the unmoderated net.sources in May
1987.  This was done by the Usenet backbone in response to the observed fact
that net.sources was largely NON-sources by number of articles.  Mail I have
received indicates that the majority of people are willing to trade the
small delays (mainly caused by network delays in mail) for having a source
group that isn't full of noise.

As stated above, the only reason a submission will be rejected is if it is
a non-source.  I, as the moderator, am striving to get things out as quickly
as possible while not posting non-sources; testing is not done.  If it's
something that's worth testing, it probably belongs in comp.sources.unix
instead.  (Send submissions to comp-sources-unix@<backbone> in that case.)

> What sources are posted here? <

I will post directly any sources:  little stuff like "my favorite dice-roll
program" or etc., non-Un*x sources, as well as the standard stuff.  In
particular, I have made arrangements to handle VMS sources, and I have a
program to create VMS DCL "shar" files.

Please consider sending larger postings to comp.sources.unix, and games to
comp.sources.games.  Large Un*x sources are not tested, in order to enhance
throughput.  If you think it should be tested, then you want to send it to
comp.sources.unix.  Really.

Shareware and copyrighted sources are NOT welcome in comp.sources.unix.  I
regret this, since it makes my life harder as the moderator who accepts
everything; I must arrange to post them, and I may end up having to test them
to compensate for their unacceptability in the "proper" newsgroup.  Still, they
*do* at least see the light of day eventually.  (It may be preferable to send
these and other sources to the unmoderated group alt.sources in the original
"alt" hierarchy [see the "Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies" document in
ews.groups].  Be warned, however, that the "alt" subnet does not yet have as
complete a distribution as the mainstream Usenet.)

> Guidelines for fast processing of submissions <

The readers of this newsgroup would prefer that posters follow certain
guidelines.  Not following these guidelines may result in long delays, since
some things *must* be fixed for news to accept the submission, and others fixed
so that I can spend time processing submissions rather than responding to
flames.  ;-)

* Do NOT send me uuencoded "arc" files, even of sources.  It's bad enough that
  I am expected to "shar" postings for people; I am not here to babysit for
  people who won't read the rules.  UUENCODED ARC'ED OR COMPRESSED POSTINGS
  WILL BE REJECTED.

* Please use "shar", "cshar", "bundle", etc. to package files.  Preferably,
  use cshar or mkshar:  these guard against mangling by older news programs,
  Bitnet mailers, etc.  I must repack non-shar'ed submissions so that they
  have a better chance of surviving older mail/news systems and inter-network
  interfaces to Bitnet, etc.

* PLEASE INCLUDE A Subject: HEADER!!!  Certain large postings in the past
  arrived sans Subject: line; this requires me to edit the messages and add
  subject lines for both inews and the archive list.

* Please do not address submissions to ncoast!allbery; comp.sources.misc no
  longer lives on ncoast, so your submissions will have to be forwarded --
  which causes additional delays, as I have to strip the forwarding from the
  messages manually on UUNET.

* The proper submission address for ANY moderated newsgroup is of the form:

            newsgroup-name@backbone-site

  The newsgroup name uses hyphens as separators, not periods (sendmail does
  not appreciate the periods); "comp-sources-misc" is an example.  Backbone
  sites are the major news feeds (excepting att.att.com, which does not pass
  mail) which serve large areas.  (No, ncoast isn't one.  (Yet.)  UUNET is.)
  Be warned that some backbone sites may use "sources-misc" instead of
  "comp-sources-misc"; there was some confusion about it at the inception of
  comp.sources.misc.

  Newsgroup-related mail that is *not* a submission should be sent to the
  same address as above, with "-request" added to the newsgroup name; for
  example, "[e-mail]".  Please do not send
  them to the submission address *or* to any of my mailboxes.

  Please do NOT send sources to *any* of my regular mailboxes.  This will
  cause possibly long delays while I reroute the mail to the proper address
  (which may well be on another machine).  Note that since ncoast's free disk
  space is never large, it is possible for large submissions sent to my
  mailbox on ncoast to be lost along with any other submissions or ordinary
  news and mail traffic.

* Please do not package binaries and sources in the same submission.  Since
  I must send out the binaries separately, this results in a delay while I
  break apart the shar and rebuild it, then resubmit the binaries separately.

* One way to solve the problem of an announcement not going out the same day
  as the posting it announces:  send the announcement to me UNDER SEPARATE
  COVER (see the previous guideline) with instructions as to where it should
  be posted, and I will insure that both go out the same day.  The same goes
  for binaries and/or other material associated with a source; send it under
  separate cover and tell me what to do with it.

> Archiving <

UUNET is now (at least, for the moment) an archive site, so the contents of
this newsgroup all the way back to July 1987 ar available.  (Nothing earlier
was archived or was even assigned archiving information.)  I add archive
headers to posted submissions, suitable for manual or automatic archiving and
archive retrieval.  The archive Index is posted each month as part of the
Welcome! posting; it should follow this posting.

The format of the archive header is:

    Comp.sources.misc: Volume 2, Issue 45        for submissions, and
    Comp.sources.misc: Volume 2, Administrivia 2    for administrivia.

Each posting also has an Archive-Name, which is a single word of (generally)
6-8 letters which tries to be somewhat descriptive.  You may want to use this
instead of the volume/issue number.

> The Oz Connection <

As with the other moderated sources groups, Australia has a sub-moderator to
handle the local load; this reduces bills and increases both speed and the
chances of your submission actually making it out onto the net.  The sub-
moderator is [e-mail].

> Other Information <

The list of archive sites is included with the Index, in the next posting.

> Policy Changes <

Most of these have been discussed above, but I'm laying them out here for
easy reference.

* Submissions not packaged with "shar" will be detained until I can wrap them
  up with a suitable "shar" program.  This can be a significant delay if I'm
  busy.

* Sources ARE NOT tested, to avoid posting delays.  If it should be tested,
  send it to comp.sources.unix.  If it's shareware or otherwise unacceptable
  for that newsgroup, you can request for me to test it, but it'll be delayed.

* I now have a way of insuring unique archive names.  I haven't fed the list
  of old archive-names to it yet, so there may be a few duplications in future
  volumes -- although I'll do my best to avoid them.

* Sending submissions to my mailboxes on ncoast, uunet, or elsewhere is NOT
  a good, fast, or even safe way to get them posted.  PLEASE use the correct
  address as discussed above.

++Brandon, your friendly neighborhood comp.sources.misc moderator.