kiessig (01/03/83)
Well, I've so far heard from about 15 sites. And since many people were likely on vacation during the last week, I've decided to wait a few more days before posting a summary of replies. In the mean time, I'd like to straighten a few things out: 1. I am NOT suggesting that US mail supplant the electronic version of netnews. I AM suggesting that there may be many sites out there who either don't have uucp/UNIX or who are too far away from a neighboring site to receive news electronically. It should be possible for these people to contribute via another medium - perhaps US mail. 2. I am fully aware of the touchiness and instability of the ARPA gateway. What I was suggesting is that if there is a demonstrated NEED - like on ARPA's behalf - that such a thing is POSSIBLE, and within the domain of NetCentral. 3. I AM NOT suggesting a central committee which would censor network traffic. I AM suggesting a node on the network which would be available to answer questions, provide new software and make archives of old news. 4. Netnews is NOT FREE. An astute manager could make lots of points with higher-ups if they were to point out the TRUE costs of not only receiving, but storing and wading through the huge volumes of news - and then suggesting an ALTERNATIVE where lots of $ could be saved. [Imagine management's shock when the network has doubled in size, and the amount of traffic quadruples - whose heads will roll then? And are we all really willing to wait until DEC or Berkeley pulls the plug on the net? Do you all really believe that won't happen?] Just a few comments as a result of some of the mail I've received so far. More later, *** RESPOND TO ME, NOT THE NETWORK *** Rick Kiessig harpo!fortune!kiessig or megatest!fortune!kiessig or dsd!fortune!kiessig