SCOUG-General Mailing List Archives

Date:	Sun, 24 Jan 1999 21:45:45 PST
From:	Dave Watson <dwatson@deltanet.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-general@scoug.com
To:	scoug-internet@scoug.com, scoug-general@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-General: Internet SIG Chat

Don't forget - Tuesday night, 7-8 PM PST, #SCOUG chat. See the web site for
details - http://users.deltanet.com/users/dwatson/meeting.html

I missed the logs for last week's meeting due to a technical error on my part.

The following is a proposal from the OS/2 For You newsletter staff. Please
consider it and let us know if you can help in any way!

To all SCOUG ISIGers and friends:

Many of you have long enjoyed the wisdom, clarity and sparkling reparte of the
"OS/2 For You" column by Webfoot, The Duck. For those of you who thought the
Duck must have some real long range SONAR to get a fix on all those web sites,
you're right. But, even ducks as well wired as our Webfoot need a tip now and
then.

It has been proposed that the Internet SIG, with it's far reaching view of the
web, might be able to spot a few worthy locales we could pass on to the
multitudes of readers of this fine column. I would like to solicit your support
for this worth endeavor, and to suggest some guidelines for describing the sites.

The format is a brief ("one-liner") description of the site, a one-word Type
description, and letter grades for Content, Links and Glitz. The Duck publishes
as many of these as the gracious editor will permit, along with a highlighted
site selected for a "Duck Feather" which gets a more in-depth description.

Now, I have analyzed the history files of the Duck's publications, and have
observed the following standards which we will try to maintain, to assist the
Duck in selecting worthy sites and describing them properly and consistently.
Please consider whether these would be useful, and let me know what improvements
we should add.

Content
A - Everyone needs this stuff sooner or later, so you might as well head over
there and check it out RIGHT NOW. High quality information, intuitively
organized.
B - This is a somewhat specialized site, but if you need this sort of thing,
this is the place to go. Current information, well organized.
C - One of those multitude of ho-hum sites which we occasionally find on our
path to finding what we need, be it information or entertainment.
D - Relatively useless information, or hard to find what you need. Only
reviewed if there is an extraordinary redeeming virtue.

Links
A - Exceptionally useful connections to valuable sites. Portal sites such as
Yahoo! are high-end examples, but many smaller operations provide excellent
collections of links in a useful site.
B - A modest set of links, but useful for specialty interests.
C - Not many links, or difficult to understand, but occasionally useful.
D - No links of any value.

Glitz
A - Makes you want to sing.
B - Attractive
C - The author obviously had other priorities than looking good, or maybe is
missing the artistic gene, but it is utilitarian and the weak artistry does not
detract from the information objective.
D - This site is ugly. This is not indicated because of the lack of graphics
or color, but for the wrong graphics or color. The infamous blinking text is a
good start, but other contraindications of good style can cement this as a
distracting experience.

Types: We can add as needed, but historically we have had Acrobat, Audio
Utilities, Beach Party, Benchmarks, CD Writer, Computer, Control, Disk Drives,
Email, File Manager, Fonts, Forum, Freeware, Games, HTML, IBM, Internet, Java,
Links, MIDI, MPEG Audio, Magazine, Newsgroup, OS/2, OS/2 Logo, OS/2 Tools,
Processors, Programming, REXX, Research, Software, User Group, Unicode,
Utilities, Video ...

There is probably a Zip if we go back far enough, but you can see there is a
wide range of types. I think we can basicly say that whatever topic interests
us is fair game for a submission.

The Description
In the regular reviews, we need a URL, and just a few words on why this one
is noteworthy. What makes it stand above the pack. Make that stand "out" from
the pack. We might want to document places to avoid, as well, though we might
have to get the Duck's lawyers to approve.
In the Duck Feather, we need to focus on a site with a paragraph of
description. This might include a discussion of the subject of the site. Or
discussion of a subject and a listing of several sites that support that subject.

Submit your finds via email to TheDuck@scoug.com, or to dave@scoug.com (not a
Duck, but some of my friends are).

Please let me know what you think, and be thinking "end of the month." We need
to submit our findings to the Duck by the end of the month to support
publication schedules. Submitters will get credit in the newsletter, and THE
WHOLE WORLD will benefit from your finds.

... end of the month, end of the month, end of the month ...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dave Watson dwatson@deltanet.com
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