🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Aug28.193432.14085@utstat.uucp> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes:
>Whatever it takes to put those prices back in should be done. This is 
>virtually the only platform to do this. We look like fools, apart from the
>fact that the announcements come off looking as  though they have been 
>through some kind of censorship. So I would certainly back your request for
>a vote on this. If the moderator won't go along with it, perhaps there could
>be a vote on him and/or the group being moderated. The whole thing is 
>ridiculous.

I disagree strongly. This is not what Usenet is about, we *certainly*
don't look like fools if we respect Usenet tradition, and it is *not* a
ridiculous thing to (as you put it) "censor" (I'd rather say "moderate")
these postings. If you read news.answers from time to time, you can find
more info on what Usenet is, and what it isn't. I am quoting Gene
Spafford's "What is Usenet?" article here:

 7. Usenet is not an advertising medium.

    Because of Usenet's roots in academia, and because Usenet depends
    so heavily on cooperation (sometimes among competitors), custom
    dictates that advertising be kept to a minimum.  It is tolerated
    if it is infrequent, informative, and low-hype.

    The "comp.newprod" newsgroup is NOT an exception to this rule:
    product announcements are screened by a moderator in an attempt to
    keep the hype-to-information ratio in check.

    If you must engage in flackery for your company, use the "biz"
    hierarchy, which is explicitly "advertising-allowed", and which
    (like all of Usenet) is carried only by those sites that want it.

Why should c.s.n.a overrule a widely accepted rule like this? This just
is not the place to put pricing information. If the demand for such
information is really big, then one should rather think of making the
un"censored" articles available on an archive server. So people who want
it, can get it, but people who object to commercializing Usenet to this
point won't be offended. This discussion is not ridiculous, but rather
annoying, because the rules are there, they're widely respected and
accepted, and there has not been *one* good reason for changing them in
this discussion, so far (IMHO, of course, you may perceive things
differently).

Just my 0.02 sFr.

- Apostolos

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