On Thu, 2 Mar 1995, Stan Horwitz wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Feb 1995 18:35:18 GMT John Stewart said:
> >My personal opinion based on my experience supporting mailing lists
> >(using the Unix Listprocessor software) and as a Usenet News Administrator
> >is that many of the mailing lists which currently exist should be replaced
> >with newsgroups. Newsgroups are far less of a hassle to support and make
> >more efficient use of network bandwidth and machine resources.
John, I also support Listserv and Usenet here on campus, and I don't
understand how you can say that Newsgroups make more efficient use of network
bandwidth and machine resources. In my opinion, we waste 100's of MBs for
1000's of groups that no one reads! At least Listserv doesn't waste
bandwidth and take up valuable MBs with lists that no reads! Ok, so
as an admin you put more effort into supporting listserv, but don't
confuse lack of effort with efficient use of bandwidth and machine
resources. Actually, there isn't much work with Listserv, I won't say
what I've been told about listproc because then I get nasty mail mixed
with a logic only the sender can follow. ;-)
> What people outside of Temple cannot see is that there are dozens of Listserv
> lists here which are devoted to instructional purposes within our
> University. These lists are used to by students and instructors in various
> courses to discuss their course lectures. The power of Listserv as an
> instructional tool is incredible. We also use Usenet for the same thing and
I agree! Our Distance Education Program couldn't survive without it!
This is where Listserv shines above the latest tech in teleconferencing.
The latter assumes that all students are in one of two or three places,
but this is not the case in reality.
> I can see plenty of evidence that Usenet is not as good a venue for this
> stuff as Listserv. I am not sure why though. Because of Listserv's
We have had people switch from Usenet to Listserv because they wanted
the functionality that Listserv provides, i.e., various levels of restriction,
archiving, etc.
> business of education. Having Listserv here at Temple provides Temple's
> researchers and students with the possibility of starting Listserv groups
> here for the benefit of research and scholarly studies that could not be done
> without it. We even have some faculty who use Listserv's database functions
> to pull off groups of postings (by grading period) and use their students
> contributions as part of their grades. This would not be possible with other
> packages that are similar to Listserv.
We are also exploring the use of Listserv for the data collection
process...this would be a big plus for researchers who need to collect
large amounts of data from large classes/groups. It would save them from
having to run to 15 different classes, get permission, hand out their
survey, and all for about 200 subjects. Listserv could make this process
much more efficient. We haven't worked out all the bugs yet, because we
would need a record of everyone who subscribed even if they unsub'd so
we could tally credits for participation.
> I have no vested interest in Listserv what-so-ever. I am not one of those
> mysterious L-Soft investors nor does my job here depend on the continued
> availability of Listserv. As such, I think I can approach this issue in an
> objective manner.
Nor am I...just a satisfied customer in sunny southern Canada. --Trish
--
Trish forrest
Computing Services, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
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