> I don't like bionet.help because it smacks too much of help at nodename> which usually where neophytes go to get help from the computer center
> staff. This only works as a group if there are informed individuals out
> there... I was going to suggest bionet.info, but that might not be an
> improvement. I do like the idea of merging bio-nauts into some more
> general group. How about bionet.general, now that there will be
> bionet.announce and bionet.discuss?
This is another possibility worth considering, but
BIOFORUM/bionet.general does not draw people's attention as a place to
go for help.
> About the bionet-blurb that you post regularly, Dave, I have read it
> frequently with the idea of distributing it to others in my department,
> but I must confess having difficulty reading it. In particular, it
> seems to me that information about subscribing should come first (or at
> least sooner). This suggests to me that the subscription list side
> should be more completely separated from the USENET part. It might also
> be helpful to drop the abstract group names and simply have the two
> lists of functional names (list and newsgroup) with short description of
> each one, each in the separate section. For novices (those who really
> need this document), the idea of either lists or newsgroups alone is
> confusing enough without their being blended together as they seem to be
> in the document. I realize that they ARE in reality quite mixed up, and
> that's the situation you see every day, but I think it might be improved
> from the perspective of its audience.
I agree with you completely. I think that the current info sheet is
almost horrible (but complete at least). We are trying to reorganize
the BIOSCI distribution system and I intend to rewrite the whole thing
with a view to greatly simplfying it. The pace of the reorganization
is not completely in my hands though, so it may be a while still. The
info sheet reflects the fact that the BIOSCI distribution system still
contains a lot of historical artifacts which need to be updated. If
we were all using USENET news software, the info sheet would probably
be not much more than a list of the newsgroups!! The use of the
various networks, mail, LISTSERV, etc., all add complexity
unfortunately.
Sincerely,
Dave Kristofferson
GenBank Manager
kristoff at genbank.bio.net
