Subj : Newsgroups? To : Todd Cochrane From : Ross Cassell Date : Mon Jul 23 2001 09:26 am Hello Todd! 23 Jul 01 06:37, you wrote to ANDREA SANTOS: AS>> I don't think it matters what the subject is. We can't compete AS>> with the Internet. If we wish to use it, and I support that, use AS>> it to spur discussion on our end, which adds value to our Network. TC> So long as the newsgroup is moderated and is not full of spam I TC> support it.. I think selected newsgroups add a lot of value and if the TC> users post to it and the newgroup users see it is coming from a BBS it TC> could draw them back.. Problem with that theory lies in who is gating it, how and what with. Case in point, look at the newsgroups Dale Ross handles in the NTHELP and OSDEBATE echoes, he is gating from the barktopia newsgroups. I have partook in a message here and there, it leaves my system and makes its way to his, he gates it to the newsgroup. When the folks in the newsgroup see my message, it is from Ross.Cassell@harborwebs.com. Not faulting Dale here at all, but the only BBS this is benifitting is Dales. He has done a great job with his gating. In this case, Dale knows the folks on the barktopia site prolly as well as one knows their neighbors and they know he is bringing Fidonet in and out, but to anyone else who doesnt know Dale, the messages coming in from his site onto those news servers appear as any other newsgroup style message and may not attribute the message to Fidonet, much less know what Fidonet is? I have a couple thousand messages in these echoes, if I struck a hash mark next to each message that _did_not_ originate in Fidonet, we wouldnt have very many messages if any at all, left. Regardless, a moderated newsgroup to lure BBS users back, nonsense, where did they go? The Internet, if they want moderation they can fire up their favorite newsreader and pick up the same newsgroup straight off a news server without having had to answer a slew of questions to log onto a BBS, then worry about a reader or log in time limits.. Think about it Todd, why would I want to use a QWK reader to download a Fidonet echo from your system that is really a newsgroup when I telnetted into your system, cuz I sho as hell aint gonna call Hawaii LD POTS, when I can fire up my newsreader and get the same news group _from_its_source_? Turning Fidonet into the Internet, isnt the answer, its only duplicating something already available, differentiating Fidonet from the Internet is the answer with regard to "content". == Ross http://www.the-estar.com ross@the-estar.com or rcassell@home.com ICQ = 5305939 --- GoldED/W32 3.0.1 * Origin: The Eastern Star [Mail Hub] - 864.573.7069 (1:18/500) .