New subject: Build your %$@! computer here.

4 Mar 2005

On Mar 4 2005, 21:54, Jules Richardson wrote:
...
  On Fri, 2005-03-04 at 21:01 +0000, Pete Turnbull
wrote:
 > On Mar 4 2005, 10:56, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
 >
 > >  I think many don't realize the damage that can happen
 > > when the group becomes a "Please fix my PC" group.
 > > I watched this happen to a news group that had too many
 > > people that tolerated such off topic post. From Jim's own
 > > words, he thought that this was a general computer
 > > group.> [ snip ]
 >
 > FWIW, I'm in complete agreement with Dwight, and well remember the
 > newsgroup he means, having used it from 1994 until its eventual demise.
...
  >  Actually, it's still there - but has become
an alt.fix.my.pc group.
...

 Not alt.comp.homebuilt? I think I looked there a while ago and gave up
...
  when I saw how many PC posts there were. 
Actually it's alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt, and it started as a group
for people interested in building or modifying hardware in the sense of
using a soldering iron or perhaps VHDL, but gradually newbies started
appearing and asking about PCs they had "built" in the sense of
sticking their ISA cards on a new motherboard.  At first they got
politely asked to try elsewhere, but quite quickly, first one or two,
then more, other newbies started saying "well, it was a polite
question, with a simple answer, so why not just answer it?" and in
quite a short space of time the please-help-me-fix-my-PC brigade
outnumbered the on-topic posters by 100:1.  Various solutions were
tried but too late and all failed; eventually all the regulars moved
elsewhere.  Some started a new group called comp.arch.hobbyist; maybe
not the best choice of name.  It gets about one post a week.  On a good
week.

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York

Re installing XP on Sony