NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #19/NN_1992_19.iso/spool/comp/sys/next/misc/19097

Text File | 1992-08-29 | 2.6 KB | 54 lines

Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc
Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!torn!utgpu!utstat!philip
From: [e-mail] (Philip McDunnough)
Subject: Re: Prices on c.s.n.announce
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: University of Toronto, Dept. of Statistics
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 09:10:57 GMT
Lines: 43

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Lytras Apostolos) writes:

[More re the net and prices...]
>
>I disagree strongly. This is not what Usenet is about, we *certainly*
>don't look like fools if we respect Usenet tradition, and it is *not* a
>ridiculous thing to (as you put it) "censor" (I'd rather say "moderate")
>these postings. If you read news.answers from time to time, you can find
>more info on what Usenet is, and what it isn't. I am quoting Gene
>Spafford's "What is Usenet?" article here:

Ok, thank's for the quote. The net does have a long tradition along a very
non-commercial line. It has changed over the years however and the NeXT
group is pretty well the only one that engages in the $xx.xx approach. Quite
frankly it is far more annoying to d/l a product which is a demo (and that
is often made clear) only to find it run for 2 minutes.

[Quotes "What is Usenet"-> which is, in my opinion, no longer the case...]
>
>Why should c.s.n.a overrule a widely accepted rule like this? This just
>is not the place to put pricing information. If the demand for such
>information is really big, then one should rather think of making the
>un"censored" articles available on an archive server. So people who want
>it, can get it, but people who object to commercializing Usenet to this
>point won't be offended. This discussion is not ridiculous, but rather
>annoying, because the rules are there, they're widely respected and
>accepted, and there has not been *one* good reason for changing them in
>this discussion, so far (IMHO, of course, you may perceive things
>differently).

Well you have stated the case which has been made for years. It is out of
date and noone follows it except for some diehard Unix purists. I quite
understand their position, but the world and the net have both changed.
Incidentally, given its roots in academia and research centres, don't you
find the alt groups somewhat deviating from that tradition? What about the
for sale signs all over the place?

Anyway, I would prefer to see the numbers in. But it's not the end of the
world if they remain "censured".

Philip McDunnough
University of Toronto
[e-mail]