Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ccavax!lmrc!hassinger
From: hassinger@lmrc.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.org.decus
Subject: Re: cross posting DECUServe?
Message-ID: <3605@lmrc.uucp>
Date: 9 Jan 90 15:17:10 GMT
References: <3301.25a1c18b@fps.mcw.edu> <626.25a31e3d@mdcbbs.com> <3306.25a4609f@fps.mcw.edu>
Organization: Liberty Mutual Research Center, Hopkinton, MA
Lines: 30

In article <3306.25a4609f@fps.mcw.edu>, brodie@fps.mcw.edu writes:
...
> Loss of revenue?  AHEM.  I believe DECUS is strictly non-profit?!  (or is
> DECUServe run by an independant firm?)

No, DECUServe is run by a volunteer group of DECUS members.  The hardware is
located in the DECUS offices and the hands-on part of the operation (backups,
reset the modems, get the phone lines fixed, etc.) is done by the paid DECUS
staff.  However, it still costs a considerable amount of money each year, and
the expectation is that DECUServe will more or less pay its way.  The only
revenue stream is user subscription fees.  My outsider's impression of the last
budget cycle was that DECUServe was still in the red and its continued
existence was somewhat in doubt.  At last report it seemed to need a
considerable increase in subscribers to get to a healthy level.  I am sure it
can not afford any significant drop.

>> Since all notes on DECUSERVE are public domain, I can't see any reason why this
>> could not be done.
> 
> I agree.   Has anyone out there (with DECUServe access, of course) tried
> to "download" topics/messages?  Could be interesting.

Correct, I don't think DECUServe has a way to stop this from happening.  It is
quite feasible to do downloads, although it presently has to be done more or
less manually.  OTOH, someone contemplating doing this might want to be
concerned about potential unfavorable reaction either from the DECUS community
or perhaps from those concerned with increased net traffic here.  I can't say
that there would be any, but there might be.   Increasing the traffic here
by thousand(s) of notes per month you can't reply to might be unpopular, I do
not know...