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From: herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.rumor,net.news.group
Subject: Re: The elimination of certain non-technical newsgroups by so called "powers-that-be"
Message-ID: <517@polaris.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-May-86 18:49:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: polaris.517
Posted: Mon May  5 18:49:34 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 8-May-86 07:34:45 EDT
References: <588@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <183@brl-sem.ARPA> <2697@jhunix.UUCP>
Reply-To: herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong)
Organization: IBM TJ Watson RC
Lines: 37
Xref: linus net.followup:5217 net.rumor:1882 net.news.group:4764

In article <2697@jhunix.UUCP> ins_akaa@jhunix.ARPA (Ken Arromdee) writes:
>>In article <588@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>, michael@ucbiris.berkeley.edu (Tom Slone [(415)486-5954]) writes:
>>> A rumor has been put out that certain so called "powers-that-be" in the
>>> backbone-sites are deciding the fate of certain non-technical
>>> newsgroups, either to eliminate them, or to give them a second class
>>> status.  The discussion is taking place without the general knowledge
>            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>> of the USENET community.  It is being done in an attempt to reduce the
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>> ever increasing costs of USENET, particularly to these backbone-sites.
>
>I apparently missed the original article that contained this quote, but I
>would like to know some more details about this.  If true, it would seem
>that the powers-that-be are hardly playing fair.

this newsgroup (net.news.group) has been having discussions on this
topic for the past year or more.  if you haven't been reading it then
it's about time you did if you really care about USENET.

as for fairness, it is us who have been getting the free lunch for the
past 4 years.  if the backbone sites say no more netnews unless someone
else pays, NO-ONE can force them to do otherwise.  the backbone has
been forking out a LOT of dollars (on the order of about $1M
collectively for 1985) to support USENET.  a dollar here, a dollar
there, it adds up.

Herb Chong...

I'm still user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble....

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