Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!nrl-cmf!ames!vsi1!daver!ssbn!bill From: bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) Newsgroups: news.sysadmin Subject: Re: Corporate Image Keywords: do you have one? Message-ID: <212@ssbn.WLK.COM> Date: 5 Aug 88 04:07:01 GMT References: <7047@tness7.UUCP> Reply-To: bill@ssbn.UUCP (Bill Kennedy) Distribution: na Organization: W.L. Kennedy Jr. and Associates, Pipe Creek, TX Lines: 89 Before I start, I should point out that Greg runs my news feed. I did not know he was posting the article, nor does he know I am going to follow up. I was going to follow up anyway, I was just jarred for a moment when I saw the signature. In article <7047@tness7.UUCP> mechjgh@tness7.UUCP (Greg Hackney ) writes: > >Do you administer Netnews for a large corporation ? No, but the reputation of my microscopic organization is proportionately as or more important than that of a "large corporation". One irrate can ruin a "large corporation" day, but it can ruin my whole livlihood. >If so, my boss would like for me to ask your comments >on a couple of things... > >We are starting to feed news to a lot of public sites, as >well as sites within the company. Several folks are asking the >question, what if a VP reads the news and runs across articles >in the explicit newsgroups, i.e. alt.sex, alt.drugs, talk.*, etc. That's easier than it sounds. I don't, as one of the public sites you are starting to feed, feel that you have any obligation to carry anything you consider offensive. If your downstream neighbors don't agree with your opinion of what's offensive, let them apply elsewhere. I didn't mean refuse to carry something you're not interested in, ssbn carries groups that I don't read, but it doesn't carry anything that I consider offensive. It's my system, I pay the bills, if I think it's offensive, within the boundaries of my control, it's gone. I can't conceive that this policy violates anyones' rights, it's *all* voluntary, readers that want to read something I consider offensive (even if it's not) can hook up elsewhere. >From a pure business standpoint, this might be construed as a >waste of computing resources and employee time. Do you as >a large company carry the alt groups and others? Once again, not a large company, I won't waste a machine cycle on something that someone at or connected to ssbn will not use. I wouldn't consider it industrial espionage to feed alt.sex, etc. but I would not permit my resources to be spent doing it. >Do you feel that it is a bad reflection on the image >of your company for allowing the groups to pass to public >and business sites? No, and I don't think that your firm should be bashful either. It's completely voluntary. If my site (since yours feeds us) thirsted for rec.nerd.chip.discussion and you opted not to propagate it we would just go somewhere else to get it. >Do you have any advice on how to justify the existence of netnews >on your machines, the existence of public gateway machines, the >existence of administrative positions for news administrators, etc. Gosh, that's a tough one! There is certainly recreational value to netnews. Whether or not it provides intrinsic value to the business depends on the business. I look at Amdahl, Digital, and other Goliath's and it must make some sense. I look at my "teapot" business and I can *assure* you that it makes sense for this firm. I can assure you that ssbn will never become a public access site because that serves no business purpose here and, despite the appearance, this is a business. Do news administrators deserve separate status? Gee, I don't know. As usual I must hide behind the "teapot". Some sites have news adminitrators separated out. Tolerant Systems, Inc. does and the news.admin is Jane Medefessor ('scuse if I speld rong). That's not her only job, but it's in her job description. AT&T decided that Doug Price, Tim Thompson, and Jonathan Clark (going West to East :-) should be assigned full time. I think that Mel Pleasant runs news, mail, and uucp at rutgers. That's not a commercial venture but it's an important one. >And finally, if you do administer news for a big company, could >you email me a message so I can say, "Look, so-and-so company >is an advocate of netnews, we should be too". Isn't there a backbone address? I'm not scolding Greg, but I am looking for an easier way to get him some input. > >Thanks in advance. >-- >Greg Hackney >Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. >Dallas, Texas >postmaster@tness7.UUCP -- Bill Kennedy usenet {killer,att,rutgers,sun!daver,uunet!bigtex}!ssbn!bill internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COM