benn@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Thomas a Coxus) (11/03/85)
[] Dear people: In an extraordinarily deep and conversation last night, I was shown that the current debate about "X shouldn't have rmgrouped net.*" / "Should so" / "Should not" / "Should so" / etc. is NOT actually a single debate at all. No indeed. It is actually (count them) TWO debates, quite different and so far quite mixed up with each other. They are: 1. Money: should the backbone carry things, should there be rules for the creation of nets, should such rules be enforced, and by who[m] ? 2. The Net: what does the apparant ceiling on postings mean for the future of the net as a social entity? [Social meaning groups of interacting humans.] Will the net survive as an anarchy, and can it ? If these look similar, then look again. 1 is power politics: the backbone HAS the ability to strangle the net [if it were to act together, which is not certain], and the backbone is going to have to do SOMETHING if its members are going to be able to continue to function as backbone sites. Otherwise the money factor will kill off their involvement. 2 on the other hand involves the *theory* behind the net's past interactions, the anarchy [so-called] central to its organization years ago. [Parse those concepts if you can -- organized anarchy?] My own conclusions are that this is all going to go one way or the other, but cannot continue. Either the money factor is going to limit volume, or else the current net structure is going to collapse and re-form in another incarnation. The current anarchical 'structure' which poor Spaf et. al. have tried to preserve will only continue if the net collapses and re-forms. And maybe not even then. My request for opinions on BOTH 1 and 2 above is STILL OPEN. The summary I plan to post should be ready in ~2 weeks max. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Void where prohibited. Voters: include your relationship to the net [admin, news sftwr, reader, writer, all that apply] and your site's relationship to the net [backbone, regional rib, or end-site. Sincerely,