Xref: utzoo news.misc:3984 comp.sys.atari.st:23263
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!ccnysci!patth
From: patth@ccnysci.UUCP (Patt Haring)
Newsgroups: news.misc,comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: USENET -> GEnie uplink now working
Summary: USENET popularity
Keywords: usenet,genie,gadgets,uplink,messages
Message-ID: <3823@ccnysci.UUCP>
Date: 21 Dec 89 17:59:52 GMT
References: <15097@well.UUCP> <935@crash.cts.com> <330@ssc.UUCP>
Reply-To: patth@ccnysci.UUCP (Patt Haring)
Followup-To: news.misc
Organization: City College Of New York
Lines: 44

In article <330@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes:
>In article <935@crash.cts.com>, canada@crash.cts.com (Diane Barlow Close) writes:
>> What I object to the most is the fact that the link is one way (and will
>> stay that way due to GEnie's commercial nature).  I don't like Usenet being
>> ``raped'' to supply GEnie's commercial pockets.  If GEnie is that ``tapped
>> out'' for knowledge that they are desperate enough to plunder Usenet, then
>> perhaps GEnie should be disbanded.
[   ]
>Now, anyone who is on GEnie and reads this can decide they would rather
>pay a different provider of service.  For example, in Seattle there are at
>least three companies that will provide Usenet access for a price.  

Isn't only a matter of time before the NIXPUB listings are posted to
any/all of the GEnie conferences?  They already appear on Compu$erve
and many uses on our local public access site here in New York
actually got information about the site from commercial services
as well as from publications they had to pay for.

Isn't it true that once a user spends a few hours downloading files
fromm a service he/she has to pay $5/hr to use and then discovers that
the same files can be downloaded form a public access site for a mere
$5/month, the thought would occur to that user that said files could
be more easily and quickly obtained using less $$?

I formerly worked with a lawyer whose personal reputation as well as
that of his law firm was being bandied about in "American Lawyer"
(also known as the "Inquirer" of the legal profession) and,
surprisingly, he was not, in the least bit, dismayed when he read the
articles and, in fact, he said "as long as they spell my name and the
firm's name correctly, it doesn't bother me at all - any publicity is
good publicity!"

Now, the question, who, if anyone or, what, if any corporation, could
ever control the information flowing through UseNET? They could filter
it, and edit it but as long as users can dial in to public access
sites they can't stop it or control it.




-- 
Patt Haring 
patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu 
          -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-