>Path: funic!fuug!mcsun!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!darkstar!cash!aryeh
>From: aryeh at cash..ucsc.edu (Aryeh M. Friedman)
>Newsgroups: news.software.readers
>Subject: Summery of News Reader Survey #1 results
>Message-ID: <18293 at darkstar.ucsc.edu>
>Date: 19 Jul 91 10:14:35 GMT
>Sender: usenet at darkstar.ucsc.edu>Organization: UC Santa Cruz, Dept. of Economics
>Lines: 93
>Originator: aryeh at cash
What newsreader people use:
Numer Reader Percentage Average Rating Comments
----- ------ ---------- -------------- --------
11 gnus 6 One invalid answer on the rating
12 nn 8 Two invalid answers for the
rating
7 rn magled the rn results so sorry
4 NewsGrazer (NeXT) 9.5 nothing can be this good folks!
5 trn 6
8 xrn 8
7 various obscure ones N/A Rating whould be impossible
The net in general in terms of organzation (Average rating): 6
5 invalid responses
Since I feel that I was unclear on the poster or on the customization rating
quesions I will not consider the results valid
And now for general feedback on stuff:
Readers:
You should note that I have decided not to consider suggestions
that require non-standard hardware (i.e. gui's and other non-text
support as not practicle til standords have been made to handle these
where avaible and to convert them to something useful when not avaible
not to mention the need for stuff like termcap entries for such
services)
Also I try to lump anything to do with virtual groups in with that
section of the survey [1]. And anything that is a existing feature in
some reader out there. Also they unversially call for more speed.
mail to self feature so you can save files to your mail and not
to a file.
a more intutive straight forward command set with out level
inconsitences in command naming
providing various "hot spots" so stuff like quotes can be hidden
or to provide "jump" points.
The net it self:
I will not not relay any of the remarks on how to make the
list of newsgroups any better instead I will only mention the ones
that seem to reflect new imagintive ideas on solving gridlock in
general. I should note that any bandwidth hungry manditory protocol is
not included since there are many many sites still on slower nets
then of the Internet or any of the other real time nets.
more detailed listings of what to expect from a group when you join.
like having the charter in some central location with no experation
date.
some way to intergrate arcives in with the group. i.e. easy ways to
request them.
allowing groups to pay someone to maintain the group and resource
listings
auto arciving of major groups by backbone sites (already some what in
place)
posters:
Being flamed my self for it I whould (and most others)
suggested adding auto grammer and/or spelling aids to the
poster
Allow quoting from multiple articles
Allow differnt signatures for differnt groups.
Virtual groups
23 yes and 24 no or didnot answer
Most people liked the idea of filters best and for techincal reasons (I
could steal the code) I decided to use a setup like Dave Taylor'ss wonderful
mail filtering system out of Elm 2.3 to implement it. Of course I will
virtually give it a face lift but the basic mechonizims will be there.
Posting Limits
Almost everyone agreed it is up to the local adm if anyone.
Forward refs
These are a low proirity for most people and myself.
customization:
[1] I consider the ferrets from David Brin's Earth (and yes I read and loved
the book) to be nothing more then virtual groups when fully developed and
simpilifed (something I don't really see how to do).
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aryeh M. Friedman aryeh at cash.ucsc.edu
or (415) 644-0181
