brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (03/19/89)
User: Hey, what happened to rec.humor.funny? Admin: I cut it off. User: Why? Admin: It's become a commercial product. User: What? How much do we have to pay for it? Admin: Well, nothing. It's free for us. User: So what is the problem? Admin: Other people have to pay for it -- on Genie and Delphi. User: Don't the users of those systems pay for everything they read there? Admin: Yes, and the moderators get some of that. User: But it's free for us? Admin: Yes. User: So why have you cut it off? Admin: It's the principle of the matter. It's USENET material. Nobody should have to pay for it. Except to UUNET, Portal, Well or the phone company. User: Except to them? Admin: Yes. They just charge for handling and transmitting the postings. They don't charge for the postings themselves. User: So the moderator of rec.humor.funny is charging for the postings? Admin: That must be it. User: Couldn't Genie pick up a full rec.humor feed from anywhere for free? Admin: Well, yes, I suppose they could find a site. User: They must be real dumb to pay Templeton to send them stuff they can get for free, then. Admin: That must be it. User: So you're cutting the group off on principle, then? Admin: Yes, the principle of free access to information. Commercial services just restrict the flow of information. We must fight that. User: 150,000 new potential readers and posters doesn't sound like restricting to me. Admin: Well yes, but Templeton *could* restrict it. The fact that he's actually expanding it is not important. User: So you're cutting it off, in the name of not restricting information? Sounds like killing in the name of peace. Admin: That must be it. User: How do I get a Genie account? Admin: What? User: Well, if you're cutting it off, I and all the downstream readers will have to get Genie or Delphi accounts to read it. Is Templeton giving you a percentage or something? Admin: No, no! I'm trying to STOP the comercialization. User: You sure picked a funny way of doing it. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473