🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <827@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU>, geb@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU (Gordon E. Banks) writes:
> Whoa, just what is the purpose of the net anyway, and who is paying
> for it?  
Who's paying for it are several major sites that pay long distance
bills for moving an exponentially expanding traffic base.

> Look at all the trash that gets onto net.religion,
> politics, tv, kids, etc., etc., etc.  

That's why they're now 'talk.' groups.

> I would think one of the
> most legitimate uses for the net is software distribution, not
> the chatting and bickering that goes on in most of the other
> groups.  Who decides these things anyway?  How do we get
> to put in our 2 cents with those who control it?

Most of the site administrators are UNIX gurus.  Anything not
directly related to UNIX or news administration is a special
interest to them.  The statistics suggest that the Mac readership
is less than 5% of the overall news readers, so this clearly qualifies
as a special interest.

We don't own the net, boys, and we're not paying the bills.
Believe me, Roger's serious when he says that the people in
charge of the net would welcome the opportunity to ditch a
high-volume newsgroup like comp.binaries.mac.

Of course, I think comp.binaries would be better used if
it did not include anything over 5 parts, and did not distribute
demonstration copies of commercial software.  Both in terms of
cost and the USENET charter (which prohibits the use of the net
for commercial gain) both are on somewhat shaky ground.
-- 
	Joel West  (c/o UCSD)
	Palomar Software, Inc., P.O. Box 2635, Vista, CA  92083
	{ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww 	jww@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu
   or	ihnp4!crash!palomar!joel	joel@palomar.cts.com