TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu> (12/31/89)
Another year past; another volume of the Digest complete. This past
year has seen a growth in TELECOM Digest traffic that would have
seemed very unlikely in December, 1988:
603 regular issues of the Digest this year, and several special issues,
meaning a nearly three-fold increase over 1988, when there were 213
regular issues, and a four-fold increase over 1987.
Per the Usenet Arbitron program, an estimated 17,000 regular readers
of comp.dcom.telecom at the end of 1989, versus 9800 at the end of 1988.
Several hundred of you receive TELECOM Digest via direct email
subscription; the list has about doubled in size this past year. Names
on the direct list are primarily on the Internet, but include about
100 Bitnet sites; and copies go to MCI Mail, AT&T Mail, Compuserve,
Fidonet, Telemail, the Net-Exchange of PC Pursuit, West Germany's
Tele-Box Mail, and NYCENET (a service of the New York City Board of
Education).
65 'exploder addresses' or expansion addresses are on the direct mail
list. These are sites which receive the Digest and automatically
re-distribute it to names on their own list. I've no idea who most of
these people are, or how many copies are re-distributed in this way.
As much as I would like to take the credit for this growth, the fact
is that the *quality of the messages and the readership* of TELECOM
Digest has played a far more important role in the growth of our
little journal during the past year, and for that, I thank every one
of you.
This Digest originated in August, 1981, and was founded by Jon
Solomon, who successfully moderated the group for several years until
I assumed that responsibility in October, 1988. My work has been much
easier because of the reputation and foundation he laid for the Digest
during his tenure. Although some readers chose to quit participating
when jsol resigned, most of you who are long-term participants chose
to remain, and your messages and thoughts have been particularly
useful to me. And of course, chip@vector.dallas.tx gave invaluable
help most of the year with the problems involved in getting the Digest
out to the Usenet people.
Although the rapid growth and radical changes in the telecom industry
has been partly responsible for the increase in message traffic in
TELECOM Digest, the fact remains that you, the readers, have made it
happen.
Here's to 1990, and another year of thought provoking, informative,
educational and sometimes controversial reading! Caller-ID has worn
out its welcome, don't you think? Let's try something else for awhile.
No Digest Monday.....next issue on Tuesday morning, 1/2/90.
Patrick Townson