X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,dd69a5d577e948b7 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public From: mskirvin Subject: Re: Info: ISPs, AOL, Fonts, Etc. Date: 1996/06/12 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 159747427 references: <4pjvaq$99c@voyager.iii.org.tw> x-sender: mskirvin@Venus.mcs.com content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII organization: MCSNet Internet Services mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: alt.ascii-art On 11 Jun 1996 dski@cameonet.cameo.com.tw wrote: > Brian Odom (bodom@cs.indiana.edu) writes: > > there is *1* internet. can't you guys on aol just change your font? > > With all the variety, it's hard to say if there's really only one Internet. > In addition, there are a lot of other protocols besides TCP/IP traveling on > the same wires as the stuff we think of as the Internet. > So there. Dan Strychalski dski@cameonet.cameo.com.tw Very nice description of how things work! As to the oneness of the Internet, I agree and disagree. I agree that the Net has become many differing entities over the last 10 years. Yes, I've been on the Net that long and longer. I started back when the Net was only available to researchers, labs, universities, military and the like. To those of us who've been here nearly since the beginning, all the extra "fluff" like Web Pages and the like are there to entertain the great unwashed masses. (Don't take that personally please!) The real purpose of the Net is to bring information sources nearer, to create a handy conduit for knowledge to pass through. And believe me, I use it for that mostly. Many of the scientist friends I have rely heavily on the Net for brainstorming ideas or problem solving. And many of those same scientists are very disgusted that the public found their way onto the Net. Personally, I think it was bound to happen sooner or later, and as for the entertainment value, well, I have found much that is very worth the space, this group being one of them. The very fact that the artists and achivists here are so willing to share make them highly esteemed in my eyes and therefore more than welcome. Unfortunately, as we have seen here on this list, some idiots think the Net is a marketplace that they can exploit for monetary gain. This is all right in the lists set up for that purpose, but to spam ads all over the place just disgusts me utterly. I for one will *not* perpetuate these ads by responding to them in any way, not even to complain about them. To do so would tell their originators that they were noticed and I for one would like those people to fall into permanent obscurity. I will expressly *never* respond to an ad spammed to a newsgroup. My delete key will deliver me from such boneheadedness. On another perspective, the Net is one unimaginatively huge juggernaut, headed for who knows where, and taking us all with it. Even the backbone is changing on a daily basis. The worldwide links that are being established are incredible and I find it fascinating to watch where it is all heading. As for AOLers being Newbies, well, fact is, anyone who uses one of the spiffy "online services" is a newbie. And sadly, as Weible has asked, most of the boneheads seem to come from there. That makes the good AOLers look bad I'm afraid. Personally, I won't subscribe to the "fluff" services. I have a *purpose* for being on the Net. I don't just surf... My .0002 cents worth... ML