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Date:      Mon, 24 Apr 1995 18:46:09 -0700
From:      "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@freefall.cdrom.com>
To:        Gary Roberts <gary@wcs.uq.oz.au>
Cc:        hackers@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Gating hackers into the newsgroups 
Message-ID:  <4996.798774369@freefall.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 25 Apr 95 11:01:25 %2B1000." <9504250101.AA15300@wcs.uq.edu.au> 

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> 1.  I agree to act as a `registration point' for willing `lurkers'.  If you
>     are willing to help, I would maintain your details on a centralised list.
>     You would only get one newbie at a time unless you agreed to take more.
>     You don't have to be a `lurker', just willing to `adopt a newbie'.
>     (I've already put Terry down for 50.  With his volume of output he
>     should easily be able to handle that number :-> ;-> :->.) (Although
>     with his 20% `confusion' factor [according to Julian was it??] maybe
>     that isn't such a good idea -- it'd probably be 90% with newbies :->.)

This sounds very good.

OK, not being one to let a good offer like this go unpunished, I've
just created:

		new-users@FreeBSD.org

It's also aliased to new-user, newbies & newbie, just to catch all the
possible permutations.. :-)  Since `newbie' has negative connotations,
I don't expect we'll be using or calling the mailing list by that name
very much (if at all).

This alias points straight to Gary.  Should a `grants committee' be
formed at some point, then Gary can have me turn this into a real
mailing list.

> 2.  I would produce a suitable `announcement' of the service which would
>     be posted say once a month (or whatever).

Once a month would be excellent.
I recommend both announce@FreeBSD.org and comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce.

> 3.  I would receive all requests from newbies and send them a standard
>     acknowledgement, pointing out that their commitment would be to take
>     on a newbie themselves at the end of their `hand-holding' period.
>     If they agreed to the conditions, I would allocate them to a helper.

Sounds just great!

At this point you have your alias, now you just need to put the words
together! :-)  When you do, feel free to send mail to announce.  Peter
da Silva will pick the announcement off the list and also send it on
to comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.

> 4.  At the end of the hand-holding period (how long do people feel this
>     should be??) the newbie name would be transferred automatically to
>     the bottom of the helper list and they would be automatically given
>     the next newbie.

I think this should only happen once a newbie has truly _in their own mind_
made the transition to `helper' status and actually really wants to help.
Most folks will find the pay-back nature of the arrangement only natural
and fair, but those that don't shouldn't be forced into it - they'll only
provide bad support for some other poor new newbie!

> 6.  I would try to do this `by hand' unless some scripting expert could
>     come up with some automated scheme to handle it.

Joerg's a PERL master - ask him! ;-)

Seriously - this sounds like a great idea and a great service, which is
why I'm pushing ahead on it so quickly.  David Greenman (who's reading over
my shoulder) thinks so too.  Let's do it!

						Jordan



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