Newsgroup good news (LONG)

[Patrick O'Connell <patricko -at- EICON -dot- COM>]

Looks like there will soone be a Usenet newsgroup specifically for WinHelp
authors. What's below is taken from comp.os.ms-windows.announce, and is
generally
interesting, but of particular interest to WinHelp authors are the two lines
prefixed
by >>>.

Enjoy,
PatO'
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick O'Connell                                       |Brilliant-
Intermediate Writer, Eicon Technology Corporation       |ly ornamen-
2196 32nd Ave. Lachine, Quebec, Canada, H8T 3H7         |tal sig
Internet: patricko -at- eicon -dot- com                            |UNDER
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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tomh -at- metrics -dot- com (Tom Haapanen)
Subject: 2nd RFD: comp.os.ms-windows new groups
Message-ID: <1994Feb17 -dot- 071347 -dot- 20682 -at- alw -dot- nih -dot- gov>
Followup-To: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Originator: sgraham -at- shiloh -dot- nimh -dot- nih -dot- gov
Sender: sgraham -at- shiloh -dot- nimh -dot- nih -dot- gov
Organization: Software Metrics Inc.
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 07:13:47 GMT
Approved: sgraham -at- shiloh -dot- nimh -dot- nih -dot- gov
Lines: 220

This is the second, revised, official Request for Discussion (RFD) for
the creation of a number of new newsgroups for Microsoft Windows.  This
RFD supersedes the original posting of 07 February 1994.

The new groups are here split into two categories: general Windows groups,
(.networking.* and .video) and the .programmer group reorganization.  The
set of programmer groups has been extensively revised since the initial
RFD to better reflect the usage and needs of the news readers.

The set of groups is still subject to change prior to the CFV, based on the
feedback and (constructive) discussions arising from this RFD.  It is
generally agreed that there *is* a need for new Windows newsgroups; the
questions to be resolved are "what topics?" and "how many groups?".  Posted
and mailed suggestions for further revisions prior to voting are welcome.

The proposed new groups are described below:


NEW WINDOWS GROUPS (all unmoderated)
 ------------------------------------
    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip
    PURPOSE: Discussions about using Windows with TCP/IP networks.  This
             includes discussions about TCP/IP implementations, NFS,
WinSock,
             TCP/IP utilities, and connectivity and internetworking issues.

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.networking.windows
    PURPOSE: Discussions about using Windows networks (Windows for
Workgroups,
             NT Advanced Server and LAN Manager), including protocol stacks,
             mail issues, interoperability and third-party add-ons.

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.networking.misc
    PURPOSE: Discussions about using Windows with networks other than TCP-IP
             and Windows networks (WFWG, NTAS, LANMan).  Topics may include
             compatability issues, security, interoperability and
performance.

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.video
    PURPOSE: Discussions about display adapters, monitors, video drivers,
             compatability and performance issues under Windows.

NEW WINDOWS PROGRAMMER GROUPS (all unmoderated)
 -----------------------------------------------
    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.controls
    PURPOSE: Discussions about standard and custom controls, dialogs and
VBXs

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.drivers
    PURPOSE: Discussions about display and print drivers (Win16/Win32) and
VxDs

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.gdi
    PURPOSE: Discussions about GDI programming: graphics, fonts, metafiles,
             brushes, BitBlts, printing, etc.

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.gdi.bitmaps
    PURPOSE: Discussions about bitmaps, DIBs and palette management

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.memory
    PURPOSE: Discussions about memory management, DLLs and shared memory

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.multimedia
    PURPOSE: Discussions about motion, sound and CD-ROM programming

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.networks
    PURPOSE: Discussions about network programming, RPC, WinSock and WFWG

    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.ole
    PURPOSE: Discussions about OLE/OLE2 programming, Windows Objects and DDE

>>>    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.winhelp
>>>    PURPOSE: Discussions about windows help file creation, techniques and
tools

RENAMED WINDOWS PROGRAMMER GROUP
 --------------------------------
    NAME:    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.base (was .misc)
    PURPOSE: Windows base API development discussions (windows, messages
etc)


RATIONALE -- GENERAL:
 ---------------------
    Microsoft Windows continues its growth as the most popular PC-based
    operating environment in the world, with somewhere over 40 million
    copies shipped. As a result, the traffic in the Windows newsgroups has
    continued to grow at an unabated pace.

    The latest readership statistics show an average of about 80 messages
    per day in the .apps and .programmer.misc groups, and heavy traffic in
    .misc as well. The excerpt shown below:

      +-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide.
      |     +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population
      |     |       +-- Recent traffic (messages per month)
      |     |       |      +-- Recent traffic (kilobytes per month)
      V     V       V      V
    92000  1121   2436  3748.0   comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc
   100000  1238   2223  3145.2   comp.os.ms-windows.apps
    71000   869   1614  3979.8   comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
    98000  1200   1365  1971.7   comp.os.ms-windows.misc
    61000   743    967  1383.8   comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc
    82000  1003    830  1198.1   comp.os.ms-windows.setup
    80000   977    598   839.2   comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools
    68000   832    416   587.9   comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32
    48000   588    415   620.3   comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup
    95000  1163     45   208.5   comp.os.ms-windows.announce

    Before the accusations of newsgroup egotism start flying again, I
    would like to point out the following recent (or ongoing) or-
    organization proposals:
        comp.os.geos            5 groups    550 messages/month
        comp.os.os2.programmer  4 groups*  1050 messages/month
        comp.sys.next.hardware  2 groups    700 messages/month
        rec.railroad            3 groups   1800 messages/month
    (*includes 2 existing groups)  The passage of all the proposed
    Windows programmer groups would result in 3500 messages split among
    12 groups, for an average group size of about 300/month -- each
    subgroup would still be as busy or busier than any of the proposals
    above, with the except of rec.railroad.*.


RATIONALE -- MS-WINDOWS.*:
 -------------------------
    Some of the heaviest topics of discussion in the non-programmer
    groups are networking and video drivers.  A subject line analysis
    found the following article counts in the main groups in the past
    45 days:

    Newsgroup       Video       TCP/IP      WinNet      MiscNet
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    .apps              69          237         145            7
    .misc             124           73         121           60
    .setup            150           41         177           21
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Total             343          351         443           88

    The only group without heavy existing traffic is .networking.misc,
    but it should, in my opinion, be created for symmetry and to give
    a place for Netware, Vines, LANtastic etc. discussions.

    The addition of the .networking.* groups will provide reasonably
    low-traffic forums for networking issues, and the .video group
    will hopefully move those discussions from .apps, .misc and .setup
    into a single focused group.

RATIONALE -- MS-WINDOWS.PROGRAMMER.*:
 -------------------------------------
    All of the Windows programmer groups are unmoderated. The set of new
    newsgroups below (all prefixed by comp.os.ms-windows.programmer) is a
    result of extensive discussions resulting from the initial RFD, both in
    news and by email. Based on these discussions, the subgroups have been
    organized by tasks (eg bitmap manipulation, custom controls, memory
    management) instead of tools (C, MFC, OWL, TPW, VB), since the
techniques
    are generally the same regardless of which tool is being used. It is
    important to direct the collective knowledge of the net to groups
    which focus on general, task-oriented, problems & solutions.

    Based on the feedback and on discussion in news and by email, the
    currently proposed new programmer groups are the following:

        .controls     Standard and custom controls, dialogs and VBXs
        .drivers      Display and print drivers (Win16/Win32) and VxDs
        .gdi          GDI Programming: graphics, fonts, metafiles, printing
        .gdi.bitmaps  Bitmaps, DIBs and palette management
        .memory       Memory management, DLLs and shared memory
        .multimedia   Motion, sound and CD-ROM programming
        .networks     Network programming, WinSock, WFWG and Netware API
        .ole          OLE/OLE2 programming, Windows Objects and DDE
        .winhelp      Windows help file creation, techniques and tools

    These encompass all but the very basics of Windows programming,
    and to cover that area, it is proposed that the existing.
    comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc be renamed comp.os.ms-windows.-
    programmer.base to indicate that it is for discussions about the
    base Windows API functionality, such as windows, messages and menus.
    discussions.  It will also reduce the likelyhood of new users
    posting to .misc if they're not sure where to post -- instead they
    will need to read the group descriptions or scan the postings in
    order to determine the appropriate group to post to.


REJECTED GROUP SUGGESTIONS:
 ---------------------------
    Some of the groups considered for the second RFD, but at least initially
    rejected were:

    .programmer.frameworks,.programmer.frameworks.{mfc,owl}
    .programmer.classlibs,.programmer.platforms
        These groups, initially proposed, were generally rejected as it
        would drain task-specific discussion from other, task-based groups.
        As noted earlier, bitmap techniques, for example, are the same
        whether using C or MFC.  Framework-specific discussions are, and
        will be, appropriate in .programmer.tools.  I do recommend, however,
        that .frameworks.{mfc,owl} be reconsidered in the future once the
        posting patterns have stabilized in the task-oriented groups.

    .programmer.{win16,win32}.{base,gdi,user,ddk}
        These groups were generally seen as an undesirable solution, as most
        programming techniques are similar in Win16 and Win32, and this
        would serve to dilute the knowledgeable users between the Win16 and
        Win32 groups.  Further, users would likely have some difficulty
        determining whether a question belongs to "user" or "base".  The
        current .win32 group will remain for dicussing Win32-specific
issues.

    .programmer.processes
        Originally targeted towards memory, task, instance discussions,
        it was felt that it would have insufficient traffic, given the
        .memory group, and that Windows 3.1 does not support threads.

    .programmer.clipboard
    .programmer.custom_controls
    .programmer.dde
    .programmer.messages
    .programmer.printing
    .programmer.standard_controls
            Covered in other proposed groups
 --
[ /tom haapanen -- tomh -at- metrics -dot- com -- software metrics inc -- waterloo, ont

[ "it's not how fast you go ... but how well you go fast"           -- vw ad