> Ironically, just before I received the digest with Paulo de Souza's
> proposal to convert or mirror this mailing list into a newsgroup, I had sent
> my request to unsubscribe due to the volume and inconvenience of reading
> this as a digest.
There is some history available for evaluating the impact of turning
an enthusiasts' mailing list into a newsgroup. With very few exceptions
that I know of (none of which were converted to national or worldwide
newsgroups) the result has been that a low-to-medium volume enthusiasts
forum with high signal-to-noise became (within a week, usually) a very
high volume newsgroup with almost all noise and very little signal.
Further, the "we're all friends who know each other" atmosphere of the
mailing list was gone within a day.
> I don't know about everyone else, but I haven't the time to page through
> 20K-60K every day to look for topics of interest. With a decent newsreader,
> it's quick and easy to sort, pick and choose between the topics to read.
It rather sounds as if what you need is not a newsgroup, but a more
restricted-interest mailing list. If you like Lotus or Jaguar, such
lists are available, considerably lower volume than the BC list, and
quite good reading.
> A newsgroup would also likely give a wider range of readership and input,
> which could be either viewed as a good thing or a bad thing, depending on
> one's point of view.
>From the point of view of someone who actually likes the list quite a lot,
I'd have to say that the average readership of the average Usenet newsgroup
is welcome to join the mailing list if they like, but I am quite glad that
it will require more effort than posting to a newsgroup requires.
> I have gotten so far behind that I don't read it
> at all anymore.
Likewise for me, with rec.autos.*. Too much BS, not enough useful
intersting stuff for me to bother with it anymore.
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John R. Lupien
lupienj@wal.hp.com
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