Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!cbnews!mark
From: mark@cbnews.ATT.COM (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: smail wants you to register a domain (using Path: for replies)
Message-ID: <998@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 29 Aug 88 20:00:28 GMT
References: <70@volition.dec.com> <71@volition.dec.com> <935@cbnews.ATT.COM> <44401@beno.seismo.CSS.GOV> <946@cbnews.ATT.COM> <355@bungia.Bungia.MN.ORG>
Reply-To: mark@cbnews.ATT.COM (Mark Horton)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 66

The UUCP Project provides a number of public services.  These services
include the u.* files in the UUCP map and the smail software.  We are
run by a group of volunteers, in order to keep our costs down to the
bare minimum.  However, we do have expenses, and we are unable to pay
for these out of our personal pockets.  In order to have representation
at necessary meetings, pay for our computer and phone bills, and other
misc expenses, we offered a new service: registration of ARPA domains
for UUCP based organizations.  We set up the UUCP Zone as a network of
UUCP organizations with domains, and set membership dues at $150/year
per organization.  (This is a tiny amount, less than $.50/day.  By
comparison, CSNET membership dues range from $5000/year to
$30,000/year, and BITNET and ARPANET cost even more.)  We were
concerned that some small organizations, such as one-person consulting
companies, might not be able to afford $150/year, so we set up parks to
allow an economy of scale at $50/year, or less, for 3rd level domains.
We've found that there isn't much interest in parks, people are either
unwilling to pay anything at all or they don't see any difference
between $150/year and smaller amounts.  We've had several tiny
organizations sign up at the $150/year rate for a 2nd level domain.

We also allow sites that already have their domains through someone
else, such as CSNET, to join the UUCP Zone for $50/year.  There are
also some complementary memberships, for example, ARPANET forwarders
have the option of joining for free, although some prefer to pay dues
anyway to show their support.  Our policy for d.* files has always been
that it consists of UUCP Zone members.  The u.* files were always for
uucp nodename connections.  Recently, due to public request, we decided
to allow dotted domain names in u.* files for organizations that have
not joined the UUCP Zone.  This costs us money, since otherwise some of
these folks might join the UUCP Zone at the $50 rate, but we judged
that connectivity and service were more important.  Now I'm seeing a
backlash we never anticipated: people are telling us that we're evil
commercial moneygrubbers when we're now offering a free service that
was never there before!

Our budget is very small, about $12K/year.  We get away with these tiny
figures by using volunteers.  I've never received any salary from the
UUCP Project, neither has anyone else.  Even so, we're hurting for
cash.  We recently had the disk die on stargate, our UNIX computer and
email contact point, and were unable to afford AT&T's rates to fix it.
Fortuntely, Convergent Technologies has donated another UNIX PC as a
backup, and it's back up and running with minimal interruption of
service.  The hassles of keeping the project going and the machine
running through a divorce, 4 involuntary moves, moving phone lines,
downtime, and so on are not exactly my idea of a vacation in Hawaii.
Frankly, I wouldn't mind having more time to spend with my children.

Frankly, I'm deeply hurt by all the UUCP Project bashing going on in
this newsgroup.  We are NOT a commercial enterprise.  We'd be a
nonprofit organization if we had the time and money to incorporate.
We're still working toward that goal.  We were founded because there
was no other way to get this service.  I still think we're operating on
a shoestring, and anybody who does it for less will have to get a
subsidy from somebody, possibly themselves.  The US domain, for
example, appears to be subsidized by DARPA and SRI.  If they are
willing to do it, I say more power to them.

I can't speak for Mel, Tim, or any of the other UUCP Project
volunteers, but to anyone who feels they can run the UUCP Zone or some
similar organization for less than our rates, perhaps they should stand
up and take on the task.  I am not here because I want money (I'm not
getting any) or power, or fame.  I'm here to ensure that the community
can send email to itself.

	Mark Horton
	Managing Director, the UUCP Project