🚀 go-pugleaf

Dave> == Dave Shaver <shaver@convex.com> 

 Dave> The question: If your management questioned the value of your news,
 Dave> what would you say?  What if they said they wanted to turn the whole
 Dave> thing off or eliminate 90% of it?  (The "non-business" newsgroups.)
 Dave> What arguments would you use to maintain your feed?

Certain companies have basically "made" their reputation with me by
having highly technically literate members of their staff participating
in USENET.  Convex (in the person of Tom Christiansen) is one of those.
This is an argument to keep at least the "business" newsgroups.

That said, the kind of person that is likely to participate heavily (and
meaningfully) will probably want a full newsfeed (in fact they are
likely to choose their employers based on net access).  These people are
invaluable technical resources, both because they export technical
knowledge to the net (returning goodwill) but also because they import
technical knowledge (and sources, and techniques) *from* the net.

Netnews is a cheap draw for some *very* good staff.  The cost of a 3/60
and a couple gig of disk is pretty far down there; even if you buy, say,
a SPARCstation ELC and a couple gig of disk that's only going to run you
$7500, and it'll last for years.
--
Christopher K. Davis      | ``Usenet seems to run much like the Kif (or,
<ckd@eff.org>   EFF #14   |   for the TV generation, Klingon) high command.
System Administrator, EFF |   Whoever takes action and can be heard wins.''
+1 617 864 0665  [CKD1]   |   --Peter da Silva <peter@ferranti.com>