Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!abhg!carpet!bill
From: bill@carpet.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: The death of USENET
Message-ID: <91@carpet.WLK.COM>
Date: 12 Jun 88 05:14:28 GMT
References: <7475@swan.ulowell.edu> <2645@rpp386.UUCP>
Reply-To: bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy)
Followup-To: news.admin
Distribution: na
Organization: W.L. Kennedy Jr. and Associates
Lines: 31

>In article <7475@swan.ulowell.edu> boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator) writes:
[ lots deleted, not appropriate to my followup ]

>USENET has been mortally wounded with the passing of ihnp4.  From where
>I am sitting the prognosis is not good.  How many hundreds or thousands
>of systems will now be stranded?  And how long before the increased
>pressure of cummulative cruft on the remaining sites forces those machines
>to also pass by the wayside?

What I'd like to air is the "cumulative cruft" suggestion.  I was chatting
with an email neighbor today and we agreed that the filth level seems to
have grown considerably and the discussion quality has slid by a near equal
amount.  He suggested that it seems to have started with the JJ nonsense and
I agreed, but on reflection it seems to have started before that but the
avalanche happened right after it.

I don't believe that AT&T's withdrawal is sudden or unjustified, and I must
agree that the passing of ihnp4 is a wound, but not a mortal blow.  I am
upset and offended by the decline in use of common courtesy and decent
language on the net.  Before you hit the button, I spent ten years in the
military, so no stranger to foul language, nor am I squeamish about it when
it serves a purpose.  I think AT&T said 'nuff is enough.  If the net was as
fascinating as it once was, then maybe their withdrawal of pass-thru mail and
news might have been delayed, but it was inevitable.

Is anyone else concerned about the steady decline in decorum?  Am I just
imagining this?  Regardless, I know that little can be done, but it doesn't
seem to be related to moon phase or anything else that makes people go a
little strange from time to time.  Just wondering...
-- 
Bill Kennedy  Internet:  bill@ssbn.WLK.COM
                Usenet:  { killer | att-cb | ihnp4!tness7 }!ssbn!bill