response 26 of 124:

Sep 19 19:16 UTC 1995

        At first, it was going to have one set up by llan, or so she said,
but I see now that it is set to the standard list of noises.
        The fact is, it is still virtually unused, and the oldfolks_x
channel is, too, due to the assignment of the permanent Oldfolks.
        The controversy that is involved with using either channel is why
this is so. Lilmo, How can you simply discount how it appears to others?
We see it as the same channel, because of the same name that is used.
        Face it, in c-space, the name of a thing is the only identity a
lot of "cyberobjects" have. By using that name that channel is effectively
killed, as is the channel it came from, because almost no one is willing
to offend llanarth, or any of the former users of oldfolks_x, by using
either. 
        I don't think there's any way to repair the damage done, either..
The fun of using the channel got taken away when it was assigned.
        I understand that your plicy with channels is to be totally 
lassez-faire, but maybe you should try the approach you make to noises..
you don't out anything in the public noisetab that is going to cause
OBVIOUS trouble.. maybe you should take a serious look at the proposed
channel, as in, "will this be a problem? does anyone have a legitimate
beef against it's creation?".. I mean you have conferences discussed for a
while before they are created, why not offer the same courtesy to
partiers? 

response 28 of 124:

Sep 19 23:12 UTC 1995

  Unfortunately, what some people (who shall be nameless) have done in
turf wars over # channels is to log into party concurrently in a "cloaked"
mode and lock the # channel.  Since that person is cloaked, the channel
does not show up in "who" at all, but try switching to it and you'll
find it locked.  Seems pretty silly but all's fair in party and war :)

response 30 of 124:

Sep 20 13:17 UTC 1995

   Are channels really needed?

   I ask this as a party novice; one who doesn't use it much at
all, and doesn't really like it, either.

   But it seems to be that channels give rise to ownership wars,
which to me, seems the exact opposite of party, where everying is
common.

   I just don't see the desireability of party on Grex.

response 32 of 124:

Sep 21 04:08 UTC 1995

   Heh.

   The generation gap, cyberspace style.


   Actually, it seems to me after taking the anthropological
view while reading party logs this summer, that most of the people
there are high school and younger.  True, there are college types
there, but I think that 50% are college freshmen or younger.

response 34 of 124:

Sep 21 14:19 UTC 1995

I agree that having multiple party channels makes party *more* usable, not
less.  It's the difference between having 17 people all talking at once in
a single room, so nobody can hear what anybody is saying, versus having the
17 people split into several different rooms, having several smaller
conversations that everybody can keep up with.

I think the permanent channels are cool for several reasons.
 * They give the people who created the channel some sense of ownership
   in Grex, which I'm convinced is healthy for Grex in the long run.
 * Most the permanent channels have their own noise lists, which means
   that the person who suggested the channel is responsible for editting
   and maintaining a text file.  This has been the inspiration for a lot
   of people to learn to edit files and navigate around the file system.
   I've seen a truly *truly* incredible increase in the Unix-sophistication
   of the people who maintain their own party channels.  They're taking
   huge steps toward computer literacy.  Many of the people in party are
   going to use this skill again and again as they grow.  For some, it
   might even be the very first small step toward a career in computing.
   Who knows?
 * Some of the biggest party twits have requested their own channels and
   gone off to spend time maintaining their noise lists instead of twitting
   people in the main party channel.  It's as if they needed something
   constructive to do, and maintaining a party channel provided that.

Noise lists are frivolous.  The skills people are learning are not.

response 36 of 124:

Sep 24 15:40 UTC 1995

That's kind of a squishy question.  On the one hand, most the party channels
were suggested by a particular person, and that person is welcome to maintain
their own noise list (and also a list of name translations that occur when
certain people join the channel).  On the other hand, the party program itself
doesn't distinguish between the person who suggested the channel and anybody
else who uses the channel.  For example, other people can wander into the
channel and close it, locking out the person who originally thought up the
channel.  So yes, there's an individual person who is somewhat responsible
for each channel, but in the end the party administrator is also responsible
for all channels.  Which in some ways corresponds to having fair witnesses
in conferences and a cfadm who does certain conference maintenance work that
fair witnesses can't do.

response 38 of 124:

Sep 24 22:57 UTC 1995

How can I call up a list of established party channels?

response 40 of 124:

Sep 25 20:41 UTC 1995

Ahhhhh...  I begin to grasp some of the complexities of the situation.

response 42 of 124:

Sep 27 14:29 UTC 1995

        Perhaps an end to the asked-for channel is called for? Or a
limit.. one to a login, so that that login may use their own
noisetab, but not dominate the party ladscape, mayhaps?

response 44 of 124:

Sep 28 21:04 UTC 1995

        The facts remain, that these areas of party are considered
the asker's territory. Why should anyone dominate that much of party?

response 46 of 124:

Sep 29 07:09 UTC 1995

Getting made a permanant channel is being stolen by the person who requests
it?  I'll have to remember that next time I make a suggestion about something
to having to do with Grex, which a public system.

response 48 of 124:

Sep 30 17:47 UTC 1995

So if I, as a Grexer, see that something has been being used alot around here,
even if I'm not using it, I have no right to suggest that maybe that's a use
Grex should respond to and recognize?