Xref: utzoo comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d:432 news.admin:2678
Path: utzoo!yunexus!maccs!dan
From: dan@maccs.UUCP (Dan Trottier)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d,news.admin
Subject: Re: No games or picture files for now
Message-ID: <1257@maccs.UUCP>
Date: 18 Jun 88 20:04:59 GMT
Article-I.D.: maccs.1257
References: <2350@slvblc.UUCP> <1577@hoqax.UUCP> <22047@amdcad.AMD.COM> <1796@van-bc.UUCP>
Reply-To: dan@maccs.UUCP (Dan Trottier)
Followup-To: news.admin
Distribution: na
Organization: McMaster U., Hamilton, Ont., Can.
Lines: 60

In article <1796@van-bc.UUCP> sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) writes:
>In article <22047@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai) writes:
>>In article <1577@hoqax.UUCP> twb@hoqax.UUCP (T.W. Beattie) writes:
>>!
>>!Let's put the pictures in comp.graphics
>>!and any other "contraband" in comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
>>
>>I think this is a bad decision too, but would rather work around it by
>>creating a "bin" top level distribution. Anyone else interested?
>
>I think that we need a separate bin distribution that is moderated. The
>chief reason for moderation being to keep the garbage out and to encourage
>sites like uunet to archive. 

Perhaps what is needed is a seperate network of archiver sites both for
sources and binaries. If you wanted to distribute software you would have
to submit it to a moderator on the archive network. If accepted the
software would then be circulated to the other archiver sites. People
wanting the software would have to FTP or UUCP it to their machines.

Of course there would have to be a newsgroup on the regular network where
the moderators would post information about new software available on the
archive servers. For those people who complain about needing to try the
software before they decide if it any good I suggest that word of mouth
is generally sufficient. If not how about a newsgroup comp.software.opinions
or something like that.

Personally I feel that binary and source groups for non Unix machines - 
are there any? - should be circulated on a seperate network - where's my 
asbestos suit! - I'm thinking about the Amigas, Ataris, MS DOS and other
single user non Unix based machines. If we - The USENET - are going to
support electronic mail messaging for anyone who can buy a PC (Personal
computer of any kind) and plug into the system then we had better start
thinking of ways to recover costs. I don't think the mandate of USENET
was to provide electronic mail to every household in the known world!

A time will come when these services are widely available from companies
specializing in this area. To some extent it already has with COMPUSERVE,
Envoy and others. 

Maybe it's time for USENET to go back to its original mandate which was
to foster a community feeling amongst Unix users and help share ideas
and solutions. Actually I don't think there was an original mandate but
I believe this comes close to the intention of its creators.
>
>With the excellent job that Rick is doing at uunet if I had to *pay* to down
>load a feed I probably wouldn't take *any* sources groups. I would simply
>grab the archive index on a periodic basis and download *what* I want.

Yes I agree.
>
>Personally I think that sites like uunet will be the only thing that keeps
>the net from collasping. Support your local pay as you go site!

Well I'm not so sure about this but they do make things so much smoother.

dan
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