Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!ames!sgi!koosh!bob
From: bob@omni.com (Bob Weissman)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: Renewed call f/ discussion : ALT.KIDS
Message-ID: <1233@borabora.omni.com>
Date: 27 Nov 89 17:39:25 GMT
References: <1989Nov17.032939.11435@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <1222@mondo.omni.com> <1989Nov26.043958.771@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Organization: OMNI Solutions, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 64

In article <1989Nov26.043958.771@ddsw1.MCS.COM>, benfeen@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Ben Feen) writes:
> In article <1222@mondo.omni.com> bob@omni.com (Bob Weissman) writes:
> >In article <1989Nov17.032939.11435@ddsw1.MCS.COM>, benfeen@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Ben Feen) writes:
> >> Ok, here's an idea;  How do you guys feel about alt.kids, rather than
> >> soc.kids, and the more suggestive rec.kids?
> >
> >I don't care what the name is; this group is inappropriate for USENET.
> >
> >Let 'em use CompuServe.
> 
> AAAAAARGGH!!!! I can't believe this attitude!  What do you MEAN,
> "inappropriate?" In what way?  Why should those under 18 be denied access to
> a public-access network?  

I didn't say you should be denied access.  You obviously already have
that, anyway.  You called for discussion about a newsgroup, and you got
it.  Don't scream.

USENET has historically been limited to those of college age and above,
simply because of the lack of physical net access by kids.  It is already
vastly overloaded.  I would like you not to contribute to that overload
with traffic which would only be of interest to a tiny minority of net
readers.

> And in any case, you misspelled Compu$erve.  The 
> '$' is important - without it you lose the full meaning of the word, for
> Compu$erve is the domain of they who have the ca$h. 

Listen up, junior.  USENET isn't free, either.  It costs real money to
send your postings around the world.

> 	The Usenet is a wonderful system.  I never fail to find at least an
> hour's worth of interesting reading every day.

Agreed.

> Why should kids such as
> myself be denied an open forum to express our own views, and be assured of
> having an audience of our peers?

Nobody is denying you an open forum to express your views.  You are
perfectly free to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper,
or stand and picket outside the White House.  (I often wish more people
would participate at this level rather than taking the easy way out
by posting to the net.)

Furthermore, if you can participate in an adult manner in the existing
USENET newsgroups, then you are entirely welcome to do so.

As for why you shouldn't be adding to USENET traffic with kid-specific
postings, that's easy:  because you're not paying for it.

> I KNOW that there are many kids on the
> net, and all we need is a group for a kind of free conversation found
> nowhere else, and for the cost of a phone call, no more.

There are plenty of BBS systems around.  Use them.  This system is
clogged enough as it is with drivel from so-called adults...


-- 
Bob Weissman	USENET administrator for omni.com
Internet:	bob@omni.com
UUCP:		...!{apple,pyramid,sgi,tekbspa,uunet}!koosh!bob