🚀 go-pugleaf

J.D. Falk (jdfalk@cais2.cais.com) writes...

> 	Finally got my copy of NetGuide; good to hear that Internet World 
> will show up soon as well.  I'll post my reviews of each later on.

Assorted random comments (I took notes while reading, and this is a more 
readable version of those notes):

	Having the URL just inside the cover is a great idea, but at 
first I thought it was part of one of the nearby advertisements.

	Is Joel Furr's "Nut Guide" going to be a regular feature?  It
looked like it could well be a promising start...only problem is, we'd
start seeing people trying to be net.kooks just to see their names in
print. 

	Damn all those advertisers.  I really, really, REALLY hate the
term "Information Superhighway" -- even more so after seeing it in
virtually every other advert (no pun intended) in the first few pages, and
many of 'em later on.

	Mosaic is *NOT* the only way to access the World Wide Web! 
Please, mention Lynx as well -- both are distributed free on the 'net, but
Mosaic is limited to fast IP connections with graphical systems.  Lynx can
be used by anybody with a UNIX shell account, at any speed (though it does
require VT100 or better, which can be a problem for Commodore 64 users
last I'd heard.  *grin*)

	Bit of a layout peeve: with all the sidebars and sidebar-like
advertisements, most of the pages numbers aren't printed.  So, whatever
pages it is that have the blue-ish sidebars listing NetGuide's URL and
EMail address -- that's, IMHO, a good way to do it.  Still, page numbers
would be nice. 

	The long quote from Tim Nemec on page 150 (about alt.caffeine,
alt.coffee, etc.) could possibly have used some context.  Tim Pierce isn't
really as bad as that message made him sound, and I think Tim Nemec knows
that -- but without any context, you can't tell.
	I'd hate to suddenly get EMail in my box saying "I saw you posting
in comp.lang.perl, and remembered your name because you were the evil
villain in an article in NetGuide about alt.tv.magnum-pi!  How could you
do that?  What's wrong with you?  I'm gonna tell all my friends that you
really exist so that they can hate you, too."

	Your bit about Online Chat (pp. 165-170) listed all the major 
online services and a lot of bulletin boards, and mentioned how expensive 
real-time chatting is on most of 'em (I got a chuckle from the price 
comparison sidebox on page 168.)
	However, it totally missed the most popular of all -- FREE
real-time chat, utilized by thousands daily: Internet Relay Chat!
	Also, many MUD-like systems are oriented more towards socializing
than hack & slash role-playing (my favorite is TinyTIM, yay.tim.org 5440.)
	I am truly amazed by this major oversight.

	All in all, except for ignoring IRC, I'm glad to say that most of
the problems I mentioned above were truly nit-picky.  (Not that I wouldn't
fix 'em if I worked for Net Guide in a capacity which would allow me to do
so, of course.)  It really is a good magazine, especially since this 
issue isn't as newbie-oriented as the first one.
	Now, if you'd just mention that your magazine was commonly
discussed here in alt.internet.media-coverage, I'd be fully satisfied that
my subscription payment was money well spent.  *big grin*

 -------------========== J.D. Falk <jdfalk@cais.com> =========-------------
  |   Drafter & Eventual Keeper of the alt.internet.media-coverage FAQ   |
 --------========== http://www.cais.com/jdfalk/home.html ==========--------