[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
After taking a look at some Palmos Usenet groups (apart of Lyrics
server ) , i saw how they are still very popular.
So I decided to integrate these groups with my palmos forum. But is
very difficulty to divide the groups in different cattegories and give
them a description for the users.
Take a look these popular groups:
alt.comp.os.palm
alt.comp.sys.palmtop.pilot
alt.comp.sys.palmtops
alt.comp.sys.palmtops.pilot
comp.sys.palmtops
comp.sys.palmtops
comp.sys.palmtops.pilot
This is all that i found in usenet palm related and there is aparently
no diference where to discuss palmos hardware, software, accessories or
os.
Have you tried asking in comp.sys.palmtops.pilot? That's the most
active group, as far as I know.
Another idea is to ask in news.groups.questions. If they don't have
the answer, they might be able to at least explain how to research it.
There's a good chance that one of those groups is officially obsolete:
generally, when a group is split into several sub-groups, the split
group gets declared obsolete. So, according to the normal traditions,
comp.sys.palmtops would be obsolete once comp.sys.palmtops.pilot
(and comp.sys.palmtops.psion and so on) were created. However, just
because a group is obsolete doesn't mean it is removed from news
servers everywhere and it doesn't mean people stop using it. At any
rate, the charter for comp.sys.palmtops.pilot might say something on
the issue of whether it obsoletes comp.sys.palmtops. Or at least you
might be able to find discussion of the question back at the time
when comp.sys.palmptops.pilot was created, since there is always lots
of discussion before the vote.
All the alt groups would normally be redundant as well. alt groups
that mirror big8 groups (including comp groups) are normally created
either because the big8 group doesn't exist yet or because it does
officially exist but many sites do not carry it. However, I personally
haven't seen any evidence that comp.sys.palmtops.pilot isn't widely
adopted, so in *theory*, alt.comp.sys.palmtops.pilot is redundant
and shouldn't be used.
That said, some groups that maybe shouldn't be used according to theory
actually are in fact quite ative. It's a bit of a judgment call
whether to participate in such groups. The best advice I can give
is to try to strike a balance between making things useful for people
and trying to be part of the solution (i.e. move the system towards
greater organization) if possible. While I'm giving advice, if you
could do whatever is necessary to make it clear to your forum users
that these gatewayed groups are Usenet groups and that certain rules
of etiquette apply to Usenet, the Usenet community would probably
appreciate that. Gatewaying groups into other formats (such as web
sites) can be a good thing for both groups of people, but if done
wrong it can also serve to just annoy the existing members of the
group with off-topic, rude, or badly-formatted posts.
- Logan
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