Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!rutgers!njin!princeton!pucc!UNASMITH From: UNASMITH@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Una Smith) Newsgroups: bionet.general Subject: Re: What/who is bionet Message-ID: <11731@pucc.Princeton.EDU> Date: 15 Sep 90 21:10:23 GMT References: <26EF7F5C.17114@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> Reply-To: UNASMITH@pucc.Princeton.EDU Organization: Princeton University, NJ Lines: 35 Disclaimer: Author bears full responsibility for contents of this article John Drake asks: I would like some brief information about bionet. It seems to me that there is an organization of some sort behind the bionet. newsgroups, and it is this organization that I would like to know more about. Is it formal, does it have meetings, who can I contact etc etc Perhaps the bionet newsgroups are ready for a discussion of what they (we) are, and their purpose. I hope so, since I'd like to talk about these issues. Over the past year I have received a subscription list about conservation biology. For some reason that I can not guess, this conservation list, CONSLINK, has been a virtually lifeless portal through which trickles press releases. My two small attempts to start a topic died quick deaths; the only responses I received made some comment on the fact that I had posted something, but had nothing else to say. Bionet, on the otherhand, has been somewhat more lively, although it continues to be a vehicle for polite requests for help with (1) using the network itself, (2) tracking down references, and (3) getting off subscription lists. Of course, this is a generalization, but I think it is fair to say that the bionet newsgroups could become much more than they are now, should the participants wish them to do so. Any comments? Should I go on, or does everyone just want to get the job at hand done, and leave the philosophical discussions to the coffee- shop crowd? - Una - Una UNASMITH@PUCC : BITNET unasmith@pucc.Princeton.EDU : Internet una@tropic.Princeton.EDU : Internet