Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site watmath.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!bstempleton
From: bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Slander and Liable (and net overload)
Message-ID: <5621@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 9-Aug-83 12:17:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.5621
Posted: Tue Aug  9 12:17:26 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Aug-83 00:22:58 EDT
References: <381@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 19

Usenet blamed for a company failure?  I doubt it.  At the current size
the net has no more than 10,000 readers, and a particular group has
far fewer than this.  Of those readers, only a small percentage would
be potential customers for a certain product, and only a percentage
of those would not buy the product due to the review.  We are talking
about a few hundred customers, and no company should fail from that loss.

If the net grows, it must grow in a different direction.  It must.
Some of you may not know it, but this is vacation time on the net, and
net usage is down quite a bit because.
     1) A certain %age of all posters are out on vacation
     2) Schools are mostly out.
     3) Many posters from schools have now left their school and the net
	unless they find work.

I suspect we'll see it really hit the fan in the fall.  Especially
now that how to join usenet has been printed in the August BYTE.
-- 
	Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304