telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (03/28/89)
Over the weekend, you were mailed a special edition of the Digest suggesting that you participate in a Usenet vote on the subject of 'Guidelines For Usenet Moderators'. The topic was of some controversy in news.groups, and the passage of the proposed vote would have affected the relationship of all moderators of news groups/lists. The person who proposed the vote, and set up the apparatus for the vote decided, for reasons not known to me, to cancel the voting. The address set up to accept the votes was removed, and all mail sent after sometime late Saturday was refused, and returned to the sender. My first knowledge of this came when I was reading news.groups earlier this evening. My second notice came when a couple readers here reported that their mail had bounced. Apparently you should NOT submit a vote. I apologize for the confusion, but at the time the vote was announced I did think it was important to let everyone know. On another issue: mail regarding caller ID is still coming in. I know at one time I said we would use it all, but I never really expected to get quite the volume. As the days go on, the responses become more rancorous and hateful. Yes, I started the discussion, but at the same time I did devote not one, but several issues to printing replies, from every possible angle, and expressing every possible opinion. If I keep on running those messages, we would have digest after digest of them; none of them saying anything new, and many of them simply stirring up more hate and discontent than exists already. In today's issue, we at least have a message from someone who is actually using it, describing how it works, and I have printed a couple of FINAL replies from the several received in recent days. Let's *please* move on to different topics. Any further messages on Caller ID should preferably be from persons who have subscribed or who have technical commentaries about the offering. Thank you! Patrick Townson
telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (12/01/89)
1) I want to welcome a new telecom user/discussion group to the Digest family of readers. The New York City Board of Education operates a computer message system called NYCENET. The system operator there is Mr. Buzz Robbins. Each issue of the Digest is now available for users of the NYCENET machine, in the telecom discussion group. Mr. Robbin's network address is 'buzz@nycenet.nycboe.edu'. Welcome! 2) A special edition of the Digest will be published this weekend and put in your mailboxes probably on Sunday. Entitled 'Telecommunications Privacy in the 1990's', this Digest will be the transcript of an address given by Marc Rotenberg to the United States Telephone Association on September 13, 1989 in Washington, DC. Mr. Rotenberg is a director of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. 3) As you have probably noticed, mail volume was *exceptionally heavy* in the telecom mailbox the past two days....and there is still a backlog of several messages in the queue. Multiple Digests will be issued from now through the weekend until the backlog is ended. There has been about a two-day backlog, which is gradually being reduced. 4) Twice in the past two days, readers have submitted excellent items from recent issues of the [Wall Street Journal]. One was an excellent and very unbiased discussion of your favorite subject and mine, Caller ID. Regretfully, Dow Jones and Company does NOT take a very tolerant view of reprinting their stuff, even admittedly 'without permission' as is the custom on Usenet. Most papers and magazines say nothing at all about reprints here, but DJ & Co. did force the removal of an item in the Telecom Archives nearly a year ago, as some of you will recall. Please, no WSJ or DJ & Co. articles without their written consent. Thanks. Patrick Townson