In-Reply-To: <199505160131.VAA12321@pluto.njcc.com>
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status: 


On Mon, 15 May 1995, Nate Zelnick wrote:

> On  Mon, 15 May 1995 17:25:29  "Ryan Ruszala"  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> > So, my question really is: if we chose to host a newsgroup (or have someone else
> > host it for us) what can we tell about users, number of hits, etc?  Or are all 
> > users (other than those posting) truly anonymous?  I've examined various 
> > newsgroups and can't seem to get a feel for this.
> > 
> Why a newsgroup?  Why not a listserv?  This seems to be the best of 
> both worlds--open access, the ability to track usage (# of 
> subscribers, even lurkers) and doesn't impinge on netiquette.  The 
The primary purpose for news in the first place was to make sure that 
sites with 200 recipients (like Compuserve and AOL) didn't get 200 copies 
of the same message.  It tends to make SA's just a little upset when
someone tries to start mailing GIFS to 4000 users.  One posting could eat 
a gigabyte instantly.  NNTP eliminates that problem by allowing a server 
to download 1 copy and let all 4000 users read it.

> problem would then be getting users to join, but you'd have that 
> problem with a newsgroup, too.  All you need is a compelling reason 
> for people to subscribe...
Getting people to subscribe is easy.  Find a topic that is interesting to 
people (be very specific), and publish an FAQ about the group frequently.
If you add quality content (verifiable facts, sources, stats...) you
will have readers.  Sending encrypted stories and passing out keys via a 
mailing list or authentication server is a cheap and easy way to pass a 
newsgroup through the net.  The other thing is you have to arrange with 
SAs to accept the feed.  Not all groups are handled by all servers.  Some 
servers don't even reference certain groups.  Many corporate servers
don't provide any access to alt.*.  While you can't ask for the user 
information, it isn't difficult to determine (from the SAs) who is 
getting a newsgroup.  You should restrict republication (they need to 
report secondaries to you).


> Nate Zelnick                          natez@pluto.njcc.com
> Multimedia Daily       URL http://pluto.njcc.com/~natez/


	Rex Ballard
	Standard & Poor's/McGraw-Hill
	Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect
	the Management of the McGraw-Hill Companies.



From rballard@cnj.digex.net Tue May 16 03:13:59 1995