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- Path: sparky!uunet!noc.near.net!eisner.decus.org!frey
- Newsgroups: vmsnet.decus.journal
- Subject: DECUServe Journal, January 1993
- Message-ID: <1993Jan5.215319.20@eisner.decus.org>
- From: FREY@Eisner.DECUS.Org
- Date: 5 Jan 93 21:53:18 -0500
- Organization: DECUS
- Approved: FREY@Eisner.DECUS.Org
- Lines: 60
-
- I would like to announce the purpose of this newsgroup, and give a
- little background for those in the net community who are not familiar with
- DECUS, DECUServe, or the DECUServe Journal.
-
- DECUS stands for Digital Equipment Computer Users Society, and is a
- large volunteer-based organization. It was formed in 1961 and is a
- technical support group that is sponsored by Digital, but is mostly operated
- by its volunteer membership. It provides an extensive public domain software
- library, technical training seminars and symposia, as well as local user
- groups and special interest groups.
-
- DECUServe is a computer bulletin board system that is run by the U.S.
- chapter and a 1 year subscription for U.S. chapter members is currently $75.00.
- Foreign chapter members pay a subscription fee that is decided by their
- chapter office.
- The motto for DECUServe is "Where DECUS meets daily" since it gives
- the member the feeling of having 24 hour (almost) access to local user group
- meetings, seminars, symposia, and just fun networking with DECUS friends.
- The board currently offers about 34 technical conferences including VMS,
- PATHWORKS, 3RD_PARTY_SOFTWARE, INTERNETWORKING, BUSINESS_PRACTICES, HARDWARE,
- and WORKSTATIONS. The "social" conferences include SHOP_TALK,
- HOBBIES_AND_INTERESTS, and WHO_AM_I.
- DECUServe is moderated by a volunteer group of DECUServe members, to
- enforce the DECUS and DECUServe Canons of Conduct. This means that socially
- controversial or offensive comments and subjects (like politics) are avoided,
- while a friendly and helpful atmosphere is encouraged.
-
- The DECUServe Journal is a collection of DECUServe conference extracts
- that was printed as a part of the DECUS Newsletter until it ceased production
- this year. We felt that the Journal was too important and valuable to let
- die, and there have been people who've requested that DECUServe extracts be
- posted to the net, so this is a perfect solution!
- Articles in the Journal are only slightly formatted to remove the
- VAXNotes headers and "look", and to remove repetitious or unnecessary quotes.
- The contents of the articles are not summarized or manipulated in any way
- (although this might make it easier to read) because we don't want to take a
- chance of altering an author's meaning. Also, we don't want to remove an
- author's jokes, sarcasm, or other indications of personality. The Journal
- gives the reader a good feel for what the DECUServe "atmosphere" is like.
- Friendly and helpful!
- An average issue contains an extract or two (which means a conversation
- that contains a problem statement and a resolution (usually!)) of various
- conferences on DECUServe. We try to include a good variety of topics ranging
- from hardware to software to business issues. Articles are selected for
- publication by several DECUServe moderators for good technical content or as
- being something that might help a lot of people.
-
- So this newsgroup will be the distribution method of the DECUServe
- Journal. It will be published (posted here) monthly beginning January 1st.
- This newsgroup will not accept postings by the net community, however, if you
- do try to post, your posting will be sent to me. Questions will be handled
- by return email. Problems will be handled (by DECUServe Executive Committee
- and myself) by return email as well. If there is something you must actually
- _post_, I will include it in the form of a letter to the editor of the next
- pending issue.
-
- Stay tuned for the first exciting issue....
-
- Sharon Frey, DECUServe Journal Editor, vmsnet.decus.journal moderator
- Email: frey@eisner.decus.org, or dsjournal-qrys@eisner.decus.org
-