Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!uwmcsd1!lakesys!joe
From: joe@lakesys.UUCP (Joe Pantuso)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The USENET Seal of Approval-Funding
Message-ID: <558@lakesys.UUCP>
Date: 30 Mar 88 05:19:06 GMT
References: <2653@crash.cts.com> <498@cunixc.columbia.edu> <3496@cbmvax.UUCP> <535@lakesys.UUCP> <516@cunixc.columbia.edu> <553@lakesys.UUCP> <520@cunixc.columbia.edu>
Reply-To: joe@lakesys.UUCP (Joe Pantuso)
Distribution: na
Organization: Lake Systems - Milwaukee, WI
Lines: 130
Keywords: impartial revues?

In article <520@cunixc.columbia.edu> suh@cunixc.columbia.edu (Kenneth Suh) writes:
>Of course your have an expansion bus for the 1000...  Oh yeah, you have
>a NEC Multisync to test out a de-interlacer with.  I am sure that you
>won't admit that you have all sorts of hardware and peripherals.  Or
>will you?

Don't get silly.  No magazine even does, our reviews will be much more
thorough than any magazine review to begin with.  (Actually I do have a
Multi-Frequency monitor I will be happy to use as soon as I get non-interlace
chips)

>My point was that a company would not pay a $100.00 and give you two or
>three copies to review.

I thought I said I agreed with that?  They won't be paying, and they won't be
giving a bunch of copies, I don't ask for more than 1.

>>>>So I then receive all these packages, and ship them randomly to the "net
>>>>reviewers"....
>>>
>>>Well, I like your review formats, etc., but I strongly disagree with
>>>randomly shipping out packages to "net reviewers"...
>You were the one that chose the word "randomly".  Don't get so offended.

Ah, now I see, you misunderstood my original statement and I misunderstood
your reply.  I may have used "randomly" a bit loosely.  I meant that the
reviewer to recieve the package will be chosen randomly from the pool of
reviewers, I sure couldn't pull them from a hat...

>>The very thought that I would allow a competetor to review software is
>>ludicrous :-)
>
>What is funny about this is that I actually believe the smiley face.  If
>you don't know what the smiley faces are for, I can send you an
>explanation.

I'm not in need of any verbal abuse today.  It is very strange the way you
interpreted my message.  You have to remember that the article you replied to
in the first place was my first or second about this, the idea had not even
jelled yet, nothing is firm!  Guidelines for reviewers are yet set, 
the criteria for the reviews themselves.

>I thought that it would be possible to get someone who had XYZ software
>package to say that he was going to coordinate reviews of that type of
>software in general.  People who owned that package or others similar to
>it could write up reviews.  Do you think that XYZ, Inc. would give the
>same service to Joe Reviewer from BYTE as he would to John Doe?  I think
>that people want to know about the software/hardware and the actual
>service they can expect from a company.

Ok, now I see your point, it is just that given the # of reviewers and the #
of people interested in reviewing products that I can't see that as being
worth it.  On the one hand you want to know how I could possibly keep the
reviewers impartial, but on the other it sounds like you would let anyone
submit a review?

>I think that we should start reviewing what people already have.  The
>other funds can come from donations (that is assuming that people really
>want this to happen).  I think that it could be done for less than $100
>dollars.  100 letters would cost:
>
>       $25.00 for postage
>       $ 2.00 for envelopes
>       $ 3.00 for paper
>       ======
>       $30.00
>
>Yeah, I know, "Phone calls will have to be made.".  But, who will send
>out 100 letters a month.  I am sure that everyone wants this to be a
>professional thing, but I think that most of the people interested in
>it want good content, not presentation.  Amigaworld does have its
>place(yeah I know what you're thinking)

The idea of people reviewing what they already have has come up, I am sure I
mentioned that as a possibility a couple days ago.  It will be a way to get an
accelerated start on things.

The letters are more than that, 100 letters pounds the heck out of my printer
and tongue :-)

It is useless to be speaking of concrete numbers yet, since this is all still
in limbo, but your point is true.  But will people keep sending in enough to
cover everything every month?  There are expenses like responding to
individual inquiries from companies, etc.

>Oh, I forgot, you are not only a MIDI expert, but you also do CAD stuff
>on the side.  You are the definitive "Renaissance Man".  Sorry if this
>is starting to end up so negatively, but maybe I am assuming that you
>either teach, study or work now and then.  In addition, I thought that
>"Usenet Reviews" would produce in-depth reviews.

No no no no, I'm sorry this is getting negative too.  What I MEAN and SAID
(please excuse my volume but I don't want to repeat myself, again) is that we
don't and WON'T have that many people to bother with that!  It is more likely
that there will be a few people who specialise in CAD, MIDI etc, but we won't
have armies of them or anything.  I hope I made that clear and was not too
offensive, but I don't appriciate the noise.

I do work and study now and then...  I am taking the summer off (my school
uses a quarter system and I don't go in summer personally) so things will be
started smoothly, and should be running well enough as not to interfere with
my studies later on.

>>>I would then imagine these reviews getting posted on BBS', Genie, etc.
>>I is already decided that that will happen.  Magazine format to the Net and to
>Well, I guess that it has been decided that you will coordinate things.
As I've said there have been many bbs's given that will recieve it.
I guess so too, I expected some dissent but you seem to be the only devil's
advocate out there.
>>A Newsletter is an interesting idea, in this age of e-mail I somhow forgot
>>about that.  If is a possibility and might work out, but it would be a little
>Even though the time hasn't come yet, it could be done by having people
>send in preformatted floppies with a postage paid return mailer.  Then,
>reviews could be copied over and sent out with a program to print them
>out if they were put together with a desktop publishing package.
This is also a possibility, and no, it's too soon to talk about it.

>The diskspace was offered so that Arpanet people could ftp reviews.

Offer accepted, I forgot about potential problems there.

>Kenneth Suh                            PATH: suh@CUNIXC.COLUMBIA.EDU

-Joe
     Snail Mail:       Real Mail:                           ///
*-------------------*  {ihnp4,uwvax}!uwmcsd1!lakesys!joe   ///
|Joe Pantuso        |  joe@lakesys.UUCP                   ///
|1631 n. 69 St.     |                               \\\  ///\          _   _
|Wauwatosa WI  53213|  "Rascality has it's limits,   \\\///__\ |\/| | / _ |_|
*-------------------*   Stupidity does not."-Napoleon \XX/    \|  | | \_/ | |