Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!mcdchg!chinet!patrick
From: patrick@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick A. Townson)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Adding commercial access to Usenet
Message-ID: <7727@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 16 Feb 89 04:21:27 GMT
References: <796@n8emr.UUCP> <4524@inco.UUCP> <3077@ficc.uu.net> <6383@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: patrick@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick A. Townson)
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Lines: 33

In article <6383@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> vnend@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James) writes:

>)Nonsense. The CIS forums supply at least two services that Usenet can't:
> 
>)	Conferencing.
>
>	For clarification, I believe that Peter is refering to chats,
>what communications people refer to as synchronous conferencing. (As
>opposed to asynchronous conferencing, which describes the net and
>aspects of CIS as well.)  Chats being multi-user, realtime computer
>communications.

And actually, chat, or CB, or 'meetings' (in Portal parlance) is available
in hundreds of public systems across the United States. If you think $10
per month is too expensive for unlimited chat on Portal, then try any
number of TBBS multiline BBS programs which are usually free. At last count
there were also several dozen DiversiDial programs running. Chicago area has
3 or 4 DD's which always have great turnouts every night. One of them here
charges *ten dollars per year* for a password. Mercy! How would we ever
survive without the $6 per hour chats ofered on CIS and others like it. And
of course, that's not $6 per hour TOTAL, it is $6 per hour per user, meaning
you and your new friend for the evening pay $12, plus local connect charges
of course. Of course!

Regards Ben Smith, I also wrote him a note and said (regarding Telecom
Digest/comp.dcom.telecom) that if bix wanted to use it, we would first need
to have a long, very candid conversation about TWO WAY SHARING. I told him
I was not interested in a one way feed he resold to the users there.

-- 
Patrick Townson 
  patrick@chinet.chi.il.us / US Mail: 60690-1570 (personal zip code)
  FIDO: 115/743 / AT&T Mail: 529-6378 (!ptownson) /  MCI Mail: 222-4956