In article <024d7a38$0$20654$c3e8...@news.astraweb.com>, Steven D'Aprano <st...@removethis.cybersource.com.au> wrote: >Dennis Lee Bieber wrote: >> On Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:47:24 -0700 (PDT), Bearophile >> <bearophileh...@lycos.com> declaimed the following in >> gmane.comp.python.general: >>> >>> Dennis Lee Bieber, may I ask why most or all your posts are set to "No- >>> Archive"? >> >> I'm from the days when the majority of NNTP servers were configured >> to expire posts after some number of days (Netcom used to expire binary >> groups after 24 hours! and most others were something like 14 days). >> >> Then came the precursor to GoogleGroups -- DejaNews -- threatening >> to archive posts through eternity. This resulted in a fair amount of >> protesting by some, and the creation of the x-no-archive header >> convention (Agent even has configuration options such that, if one were >> to not normally use x-no-archive such that one's own posts could be >> archived, one could still honor it in replies to posts that did contain >> it -- so those replies with quoted contents would also not be archived). >> >> It was at that time that I added the x-no-archive header to my posts >> from Agent; as, while not as vocal as others, did object to DejaNews >> plans. > >But your replies often contain useful information. It's a shame that they >disappear from record, making them invisible for anyone searching the >archives. > >A good rule of thumb when judging behaviour is to ask, "What if everyone did >this?". If everyone set x-no-archive, then discussions on Usenet would be >ephemeral, we couldn't point people to past discussions for information, >and we would lose a lot of useful information. (Also a lot of garbage.) I >can't tell you how often I find useful information in the archives of >comp.lang.python thanks to those who archive the gname news-to-email >gateway, and Google groups. If everyone did what you use, the entire >community, including myself, would be far worse off. > >As far as I'm concerned, setting x-no-archive is harmful, anti-social >behaviour on a technical newsgroup like this. You (almost) might as well >just email the poster you're replying to directly.
Your response to Dennis seems at least a little over-the-top. So far as I'm concerned, anyone who joined Usenet after DejaNews is a latecomer; trying to change the cultural beliefs of those who were here first is asserting your superiority. I happen to disagree with people who post with X-no-archive, but I think it's certainly their right. Guess what? Prior to DejaNews, discussions on Usenet *were* ephemeral, and it all worked. -- Aahz (a...@pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "as long as we like the same operating system, things are cool." --piranha -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
