🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Aug3.174208@mccall.com>, tp@mccall.com (Terry Poot) writes:
> In article <1992Jul16.101111.2796@memstvx1.memst.edu>,
> flowers@memstvx1.memst.edu (Harry Flowers) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul16.074309.1@cc.uvcc.edu>, coleve@cc.uvcc.edu writes:
>>> How about a *moderated* VMSnet.DECUServe group?  The "moderator" could be
>>> a software filter which knows the id's of subscribers.
> 
> Even better than what I proposed, since nothing gets into the groups except
> subscriber comments (my idea would have just kept non-subscriber posts out of
> DECUServe, which isn't really what you want).
> 
>>The main problem I see with this approach is that there are many
>>knowledgeable people who don't subscribe to DECUServe.  Sometimes
>>questions come up on other forums like DECUServe that have been
>>answered here before, and the answers there are sometimes less
>>than optimal ;-).  To me, it would be somewhat frustrating to see
>>people spin their wheels in a group I read, without being able to
>>contribute a solution.  
> 
> Send someone email and let him repost it if he thinks it is worth it. If you
> have the right answer, people aren't going to care where it came from, and it
> will have been posted by a legitimate subscriber. Personally, I'll pay the $60
> (or whatever it is) to be able to post, if that's all I have to do other than
> read the stuff in news.

If you've got a moderator filter, I guess you could just post answers from
non-subscribers, but not questions.  I still don't like the idea of DECUServe
or the library being profit-making entities, it seems to go against what
DECUS is supposed to stand for.  Having the library charge for more than just
what it costs to maintain it is counter to many of the copyrights of the freely
distributable software it provides.  [OTOH, I have no problem with symposia
supporting other DECUS activities, since they, in turn, support the symposia.]

I'm not going to pay $75 a year to be able to answer questions, and I doubt
I'd support a forum where I could answer but not ask them.  As more systems
are becoming networked, I think profit-making projects like DECUServe are
probably going to have a harder time against cooperative information networks
like vmsnet and usenet.  Maybe DECUServe could make it's money as a public
access news site?  1/2 :-)
--
Harry Flowers                           Internet: FLOWERS@MEMSTVX1.MEMST.EDU
Memphis State University                & Bitnet: FLOWERS@MEMSTVX1