X Posting question?

[jk]

Why is it frowned upon to post a message to more than one NG? I'm not
talking about spam, but a legitimate post.

--
JK Sinrod
Sinrod Stained Glass Studios
www.sinrodstudios.com
Coney Island Memories
www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories

[Michael Wilcox]

jk wrote:
> Why is it frowned upon to post a message to more than one NG? I'm not
> talking about spam, but a legitimate post.

In general netiquette, it is not frowned upon to use crossposting to
post to more than one newsgroup *if* the topic is appropriate for each
group.

However, it *is* detrimental to crosspost when the groups have very
similar purposes, such as rec.aquaria.misc, rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc,
and rec.aquaria.marine.misc.

What *is* universally frowned upon is multiposting. This means posting
individual messages to each newsgroup, whereas crossposting (the
preferred method) is sending a single message with several groups in the
To: field. Make sense?

See http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/usenet/xpost.html for more info.
--
Michael Wilcox, http://dataportalen.com/mike/

[blank]

"Michael Wilcox" > wrote in message
...
> jk wrote:
> > Why is it frowned upon to post a message to more than one NG? I'm not
> > talking about spam, but a legitimate post.
>
> In general netiquette, it is not frowned upon to use crossposting to
> post to more than one newsgroup *if* the topic is appropriate for each
> group.
>
> However, it *is* detrimental to crosspost when the groups have very
> similar purposes, such as rec.aquaria.misc, rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc,
> and rec.aquaria.marine.misc.
>
> What *is* universally frowned upon is multiposting. This means posting
> individual messages to each newsgroup, whereas crossposting (the
> preferred method) is sending a single message with several groups in the
> To: field. Make sense?
>
> See http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/usenet/xpost.html for more info.
> --
> Michael Wilcox, http://dataportalen.com/mike/

But his question was "Why" not 'what'.

[Billy]

"blank" > wrote in message
...
|
| But his question was "Why" not 'what'.
|
|

Very well, I'll field that one. His response was needed to understand
the "why". Perhaps Mr. Wilcox assumed that jk would figure the rest
out for him\her self from the info within his excellent post.
In the world outside the UK, US and other 'western' countries,
many, if not most, people do not have cable modems or T-1's and still
pay for internet usage on a 'per k' basis. That is to say, they get,
for example, 1 gigabyte of download a month, anything over is
charged, and charged steeply. If you "cut and paste" crosspost, this
means that if someone subscribes to more than one of the groups
you've crossposted to, their reader will download the same message
each time, eating up their monthly allotment. As said before, this is
very likely since most people crosspost to *all* the aquaria groups,
for example, which is almost pointless, as most people who would be
qualified to answer a question in all likelyhood subscribe to most of
the groups already.
As for those lucky enough to have 'unlimited' broadband
connections, this is merely an annoyance, but a preventable one,
hence the rules of Netiquette, such as not typing in all caps,
because it's considered akin to screaming in a person's face. This is
another case of simple ettiquette. There is a right way to do
everything in this world. You can still accomplish all your goals,
with minimal inconveinience, without knowingly irritating others who
simply want the same things as you.

As this *is* a bit off topic, feel free to email.

billy

gordygord2003 AT yahoo DOT com

[Dick]

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 01:57:33 -0800, "Billy"
> wrote:

>
>
>"blank" > wrote in message
...
>|
>| But his question was "Why" not 'what'.
>|
>|
>
>Very well, I'll field that one. His response was needed to understand
>the "why". Perhaps Mr. Wilcox assumed that jk would figure the rest
>out for him\her self from the info within his excellent post.
> In the world outside the UK, US and other 'western' countries,
>many, if not most, people do not have cable modems or T-1's and still
>pay for internet usage on a 'per k' basis. That is to say, they get,
>for example, 1 gigabyte of download a month, anything over is
>charged, and charged steeply. If you "cut and paste" crosspost, this
>means that if someone subscribes to more than one of the groups
>you've crossposted to, their reader will download the same message
>each time, eating up their monthly allotment. As said before, this is
>very likely since most people crosspost to *all* the aquaria groups,
>for example, which is almost pointless, as most people who would be
>qualified to answer a question in all likelyhood subscribe to most of
>the groups already.
> As for those lucky enough to have 'unlimited' broadband
>connections, this is merely an annoyance, but a preventable one,
>hence the rules of Netiquette, such as not typing in all caps,
>because it's considered akin to screaming in a person's face. This is
>another case of simple ettiquette. There is a right way to do
>everything in this world. You can still accomplish all your goals,
>with minimal inconveinience, without knowingly irritating others who
>simply want the same things as you.
>
>As this *is* a bit off topic, feel free to email.
>
>billy
>
>gordygord2003 AT yahoo DOT com
>

I can't imagine any problem of volume with text messages, binaries
would certainly pose a volume problem. I don't like cross posting as
I don't like to check each group to see if someone replied to one not
all. It also takes away any specialization if over used.

dick

[Billy]

"Dick" > wrote in message
...
|
| I can't imagine any problem of volume with text messages, binaries
| would certainly pose a volume problem.

If you have a limit, and get raped for overages, you count every
byte.



I don't like cross posting as
| I don't like to check each group to see if someone replied to one
not
| all. It also takes away any specialization if over used.

Well said.


billy

[jk]

Thanks for the replies. I've never cross posted intentionally but I think
that it may be nit picking to chastize someone for posting a simple text
message to several groups though. If an answer is needed to an important
question, you would be better served asking it in a few places to get the
attention required. If someone posts to 50 groups at once, it's kind of like
stamping your feet and demanding attention, but a few should be OK? There's
no way you can assume that everyone subscribes to all the fishy NG's. Some
are salt, some fresh, some are as selective as Chiclids, etc etc. If I had a
baseball question, I may want to post it to many different team NG's. Just
asking....
--
JK Sinrod
Sinrod Stained Glass Studios
www.sinrodstudios.com
Coney Island Memories
www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories

[Billy]

"jk" > wrote in message
t...
If I had a
| baseball question, I may want to post it to many different team
NG's. Just
| asking....


Of course. I wasn't making those statements as end-all gospel rules.
Just like the real world, you have to use some common sense when
making decisions. There are times when cross-posting is a good idea.
There are times when it's just going to irritate people. Up to you to
determine which. More often than not, I've found, the cross-post
isn't needed.