rcj@burl.UUCP (06/28/83)
Advertising is, I think most people will agree, a privelege -- not a God-given right. I see no reason (reiterating Andy's stand here) to let advertisers use our telephones, cpu's, and (by natural extension) our money to line their pockets. We have entered a mode in America today when it seems to be the consumer's duty to "look for the best bargain" or "find" the sales. This is accomplished in the mass media by a flood of advertising that the consumer must spend a lot of time picking through in order not to be embarrassed when Joe Shmoe down the block informs him that he paid too much for his whimmy-diddle and could have gotten it cheaper down the street. How ludicrous!! We have at our disposal an electronic medium which, among many other more important things, may be used to partially turn that tide in our small corner of the world. Simply tell the world of advertisers who read the net (and their friends who read it) what YOU WANT, and make THEM do the reading and filtering for a change and seek out the buyers, rather than you seeking out the best seller from a mass of garbage. NO MORE UNSOLICITED ADS ON THE NET!!!!! (With the exceptions mentioned by Andy earlier -- one-time anouncements of services of general interest), -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3814 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ floyd sb1 mhuxv ]!burl!rcj
preece@uicsl.UUCP (07/16/83)
#R:burl:-21500:uicsl:5400009:000:644 uicsl!preece Jul 8 07:45:00 1983 I wouldn't want to see advertising, per se. The size of magazines like Byte and PC demonstrates the ability of our industry to pump out unimagined amounts of advertising. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind a stream of press releases (say one per product). Advertising is intended as a service to the reader as well as to the advertiser. A lot of us are interested in what's available and for how much. We would also be responding to the ads, a strong incentive to the advertisers to keep it above board. I don't think however, that net.general would be the appropriate place for such announcements. scott preece pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece