lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (09/22/83)
I for one do not object to occasional commercial notices -- they sometimes are quite useful. Of course, anything can get out of hand, and when we start seeing Usenet ads for the "Bamboo Steamer", that's when I'm switching to another profession -- fast! One possible way to handle this situation might be to create a separate newsgroup EXPLICITLY for notices which would be deemed strictly commercial. Of course, there will always be some informational messages with some commercial content, but I'm thinking here of messages that are pretty much in the form of a press release or a basic advertisement, such as we all see on the net from time to time. Once in their own newsgroup, individuals could easily decide whether or not they wished to see them, and more "conservative" sites could decide whether or not to forward such notices. Of course, we should establish guidelines to avoid overuse or misuse of this new group. Whaddya ya' think? --Lauren--
mark@cbosgd.UUCP (09/23/83)
We've been through this before, with the general feeling that ads were OK as long as they weren't annoying. This means they should go to an appropriate group, not be repeated, be clearly marked as ads, not be repeated, only be for things that are of technical interest to the net, and not be repeated. We do have another alternative. We could offer paid advertising on Usenet (either in a special newsgroup or in appropriate newsgroups) and use the funds raised for things of benefit to Usenet, such as enhanced services (paying moderators to provide moderated versions of some newsgroups) or the development of useful software which could then be distributed free to the net.
ken@turtleva.UUCP (Ken Turkowski) (09/27/83)
Advertisements on the USENET can be useful, as long as any one company
does not barrage the net with commercials. In this case, it is up to
the readership to barrage the advertiser with flames!
Ken Turkowski
CADLINC, Palo Alto
{decwrl,amd70}!turtlevax!kenmark@umcp-cs.UUCP (09/27/83)
I think selling time on the net for advertisements is a VERY interesting
idea. The funds could somehow get distributed to all the net
once a quarter. This could go a long way to convincing management
they were on to something good.
--
spoken: mark weiser
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!mark
CSNet: mark@umcp-cs
ARPA: mark.umcp-cs@UDel-Relaynaftoli@aecom.UUCP (Robert Berlinger) (10/17/83)
Re: new newsgroup for commercial submissions I haven't been bothered by commercial advertisements on the net in fact I was surprised to find so few. The net seems to be the perfect place to gain the attention of persepective UN*X customers. I'm only one in a thousand but I vote no. -- Robert --
shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs) (10/20/83)
If ads are going to encroach upon Usenet, they should at least pay for the cost of bouncing around all the sites, plus a little extra to help out the costs of the regular material. It's one thing to have non-technical discussions, but universities shouldn't have to pay for somebody else's advertising... stan the l.h. utah-cs!shebs