Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-vax!mit-eddie!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!vnend
From: vnend@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Questions about USENET (/bitnet)
Message-ID: <5789@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 24 Jan 89 22:00:11 GMT
References: <1466@cc.helsinki.fi>
Reply-To: vnend@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James)
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 82

In article <1466@cc.helsinki.fi> harmo@cc.helsinki.fi (Timo Harmo (Valt. tiet. tdk)) writes:
)I'm on a bitnet site and we have recently started to recieve USE-
)NET news. I'm writing a guide to different communications systems
)availlable  in our system and I'll like to write something on our
)news-system also. I'd appreachiate all answers to the  following
)(maybe silly) questions. 

	NETNEWS for VM/SP (CMS) is available from Princeton University.
Contact Irwin Tillman, irwin@pucc.princeton.edu (or just irwin@pucc,
for those of you on BITNET) for more information.

 
)1.  What is USENET? I've understood it's a network of all the si-
)tes that participate and distribute these newsgroups. Should BIT-
)NET sites that distibute news be counted in?

	The best place to start here is with the monthly postings to
news.announce.newusers (something like that.)  Gene Spafford and others
post a variety of articles that explain the origins of the USENET, and
other interesting things.

	Your second sentence is exactly correct.  There are some who 
would extend it to include sites that only exchange mail via the 
network of machine that are linked to exchange news, but when you get
right down to cases, if they carry a newsgroup, and show up in Rick
Adams count from UUNET, then they are part of USENET.  So yes, BITNET
sites that also carry news are part of USENET (examples I know of 
would include UKMA (g.ms.uky.edu) and PUCC (pucc.princeton.edu), the
first originally a VAX 750, now a MicroVax, and the second an IBM 3084.))


)2. Do you receive any newsgroups originated in BITNET (things li-
)ke Bitnet.listserv.history)?

	There was a project at UKMA to provide this service.  I am
not aware if this is one of the mailing lists so gatewayed or not.
Contact david@ms.uky.edu.


)3.  What  other network are connected to the news services (FIDO-
)NET,...?)

	There are gateways into FIDONET, and there are gateways to
and from various BITNET and ARPANET mailing lists.  There is also
some kind of connection to JUnet (Japan), EUnet (Europe), EUcon 
(also Europe, but I'm not entirely certain what all is going on there.)
And probably others that I'm not familuar with (for example, how does
one count BIONET?)


)4. I understand you have  a  voting  system  for  organizing  new
)groups. How many votes are needed?                      

	100 more positive votes than negative ones.  Only votes
mailed count.  See the postings to newusers, which cover the current
guidelines.

)5. What kind of people are you  in  USENET?  Computer-pros,  stu-
)dents, ...? (are there some surveys?)

	All kinds.  Lots of students (of all disciplines, not just
CS,) Professionals in Computers and other areas (Engineers, etc.,)
office personel in various corporate offices, people who have access
via spouses,  etc, etc,... (No, I've never seen a survey.  I'd love
one.  If I don't see one eventually I'll do one myself... But then
there are tons of studies I'd like to do on the net...)

 
) Timo Harmo
) Faculty of Soc. Sci,
) U of Helsinki, Finland
) Bitnet: HARMO@FINUH
) internet: HARMO@cc.helsinki.fi.bitnet


Your welcome, and welcome to the net.

-- 
Later Y'all,  Vnend                       Ignorance is the mother of adventure.   
SCA event list? Mail?  Send to:vnend@phoenix.princeton.edu or vnend@pucc.bitnet   
        Anonymous posting service (NO FLAMES!) at vnend@ms.uky.edu                    
     "Self-discipline implies some unpleasant things to me, including                         staying away from chocolate ..." Oleg Kiselev