Kristofferson@BIONET-20.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) (11/05/88)
A message was posted a short while back on BIONEWS (formerly BIONET-NEWS) which commented on U.S. Presidential politics. That message was promptly removed but did go out the network to some other sites. First as manager of BIONET I wish to state that it is solely the opinion of the author and has no connection with BIONET itself. Second let me make it "perfectly clear" that BIONET is a federally-funded resource and it is against federal regulations to use government funds to lobby against the government. Writing a letter to a newspaper using your own stamp or using a commercial e-mail service where you are paying the bill for the mail is one thing (and I am all in favor of that). Using SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY to propagate your political opinion when those funds were provided to you AS A GIFT TO PROMOTE SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE not only is in bad taste and against the rules, but can also jeopardize the future of those funds. For the last two years I have worked extremely long hours to get a communications system up and running for the scientific community. I have no desire to see it trashed over this kind of issue. This system now extends worldwide and enables the scientific community to communicate quickly and exchange data at rates previously unimaginable. Please use this system for what it was intended for. If you want to post political notes, do it on Compuserve, the Source, or somewhere else that is not using federal funds. Sincerely, David Kristofferson, Ph.D. BIONET Resource Manager kristofferson@bionet-20.bio.net -------