HARPER@HYLKA.HELSINKI.FI ("ROBERT HARPER, FINLAND") (07/12/89)
If I sit down at my desk and write a letter and then post it from Finland it may take a week or more before it arrives at its destination. It then might remain unanswered for a week and when it finally makes its return journey the reply will arrive on my desk about a month later... this is the traditional way of communicating. Since the news of the BIONET shutdown was made public there have been replies from FINLAND, USA, CANADA, UK, and AUSTRALIA... all within the space of a few days. All of the arguments so far have been for a continuation of the services provided by BIONET, and there has been *NO* counter arguments raised in the discussion. Dan received 28 letters of support within a 24 hour period, and this coupled with that fact that so many different people from different countries have responded with well thought out arguments to BIONEWS confirms that the BIONET Bboard system is an effective way to disseminate information. If we had had to depend on traditional means of communication to voice our opinions then the 30th of September would have come and gone and BIONET would have been ancient history. Let us hope that by speaking up we can preserve this vital and dynamic form of communication and see it develop for the benefit of international community of molecular biologists. Robert Harper Helsinki University.