Re: [SLUG] Call for new list best-of-slug ?

[Jeffrey Borg <jeffrey@nospam.borgs.net>]

Hi there

I find search engines quite useless unless you the search term exactly
right, and when I am looking for something very specific on the www I
usually come up with nothing because of this.

But what would be useful is a yahoo style listing of specific linux
related questions (and NOT threads like this one for instance) that could
be compiled by flagging any new threads with a category.

Any threads like this one wouldn't get flagged.

So to look for something specific the archives would have categories for
questions and then the subjects of the 1st message in the thread which
should lead the answers about that question to be read.

I can not give any examples of this because I haven't seen it anywhere! It
sort of like a cross between yahoo directory but instead of being for the
web it's for a email list.

Just for general information the volume on this list for this Month has
been the biggest I have on record (it's going to be at least 1630 messages
for May at least at this rate) and while I was composing this message
there was 5 new messages to slug.

Of course those "tagged" threads could be easily passed to a information
only list and that list would work exactly like slug but would only
contain threads that have been tagged. (and it's only 1 tagging per new
thread not every message)

Of course there is no easy no work solution in the end somebody is going
to have to do some work. This idea just dosen't look like too much work.
It would be only about 2-5 thread flaggings a day.

Jeffrey Borg

On Tue, 30 May 2000, Sonam Chauhan wrote:

> > Perhaps (as you suggest) all we need is a culture where people say:
> > 
> >         "Here's my problem, tell me what to do and I'll summarise
> >         to the list"
> > 
> > ... and then they actually go on and summarise the responses. The
> > only way to get that culture is for people to start doing it ...
> 
> Summarization is extremely useful when done well. 
> 
> We should all remember to do it (no sarcasm intended here)
> 
> All information needs be:
> 1. useful 
>       - persist beyond the typical Inbox lifetime
>       - satisfy the need "richer" detail
> 2. manageable 
>       - be searchable
>       - have sensible structure
>         i.e.: you should be able to see a discussion thread and think: 
>           "Let's me see Richard's postings - he's the expert here!" 
> 
> A  threaded searchable archive is a simple way of providing this 
> 
> I think simply threading the SLUG archives and providing a search engine 
> interface to it will be extremely useful. A similar slug-FAQ or slug-pearls 
> setup for summary postings would be wonderful.




--
SLUG - Sydney Linux Users Group Mailing List - http://www.slug.org.au
To unsubscribe send email to slug-request@nospam.slug.org.au with
unsubscribe in the text