Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!ucbvax!ERENJ.BITNET!MBERNAR From: MBERNAR@ERENJ.BITNET (Marcelino Bernardo) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Improving this newsgroup Message-ID: <8912220804.AA29176@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 21 Dec 89 15:40:45 GMT References: Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 27 JOHNBARNES@ENH.NIST.GOV expressed some opinions about the future of this newsgroup which I mostly agree with. There are a few statements, however, which I don't agree with based on my own limited experience. "I note that many of the questions that are asked here (at considerable expense, I might note) have been answered in the magazines." I've found the magazines that are/were available in my area: STart, ST Log, STXpress and Atari Explorer are seriously lacking in technical information (I would exclude Dave Small's column in STart). Coverage of Public Domain and Shareware is inadequate. I've seen a letter to STart asking for a terminal emulation software for a Tektronix 4010 terminal go unanswered when Uniterm has existed for years. "It appears that there is a tendency to post the burning question of the moment to the net when a little research in a library would yield a quicker and sounder ouutcome. Magazines like Current Notes and ST Informer, and to some extent z-Mag and ST REports, have solid technical information that is more useful than some of the spur of the moment responses that get passed around here...." I have not yet found a library in my area (New Jersey) that has any of the ST magazines you mentioned. I can't even find one ST book in a library or a bookstore. Under the circumstances, this net is the best place that I expect to get informed answers to technical questions.