Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!lts!amanda
From: amanda@lts.UUCP (Amanda Walker)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: What is the Spirit of Usenet?
Message-ID: <1077@lts.UUCP>
Date: 15 Mar 89 15:18:49 GMT
References: <2940@looking.UUCP>
Reply-To: amanda@lts.UUCP (Amanda Walker)
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Reston, VA
Lines: 51

brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
    Many people recently have talked about something they call the
    "Spirit of Usenet."  What does this mean, other than, "The way I
    think USENET should be run"?

Well, that's always been the traditional definition :-).

    First of all, the net is not a commune.

Sigh.  Yup.  And while I admire the goals of the FSF and other "software
socialists," I don't think they have all that much better of a handle on the
economics of information and software than anybody else.

"Usenet is not commercial" is one of The Great Myths Of Usenet.  For as
long as I've been around it (8 or so years), Usenet has been blatantly
commercial.  In fact, I can remember people predicting The Imminent
Death Of The Net because of the proliferation of
NON-commercial/work-related newsgroups.  Usenet is not a commercial
service; it is one of the best examples I can think of off hand of a
cooperative venture, but it is still not a commune.  It exists principally
because it helps all of us save and make money, either directly or
indirectly.  Even those who only read rec groups are saving money, since
the only other ways to get comparable services is to use a commercial
provider such CompuServe or Genie.

There are people who take the ideas that "Usenet is a cooperative venture"
and some variation on "information should be free" and draw the conclusion
that "Usenet is a commune".  This doesn't follow, and, despite what some
people evidently think, saying it louder and louder still doesn't make it
true.

Now, since it is a cooperative venture, one of the working conventions that
has developed is that Usenet should not be used as an advertising medium,
mainly avoid holy wars.  I mean, we get enough of that on technical groups
(anyone remember the Intel/Moto flamefests con comp.arch a few years back?).

    Those who dictate what others should do are the ones violating the
    spirit of usenet -- that much I do know.

    Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd.

Yup.  Trying to wedge the world into your idea of what it "should" be
doesn't work very well in the real world, and it works even less well
on Usenet.  For one thing, Usenetters tend to be a little more vocal
and opinionated that average :-)...

-- 
Amanda Walker, InterCon Systems Corporation
amanda@lts.UUCP / ...!uunet!lts!amanda / 703.435.8170
--
C combines the flexibility of assembler with the power of assembler.