NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/tor/general/1763

Text File | 1993-01-23 | 3.3 KB | 65 lines

Newsgroups: tor.general
Path: sparky!uunet!uunet.ca!wildcan!sq!msb
From: [e-mail] (Mark Brader)
Subject: Commercial postings poll (was: Reduced long distance rates!!)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 18:21:29 GMT
Lines: 54

> > ... Commercial postings are considered unacceptable.
>
> This cannot be correct as a blanket statement. [Examples cited.]

We're all familiar with the regular postings in news.announce.newusers, right?
From "Rules for posting to Usenet":

| Announcement of professional products or services on Usenet is allowed;
| however, since someone else is paying the phone bills for this, it is
| important that it be of overall benefit to Usenet.  Post to the
| appropriate newsgroup -- comp.newprod -- never to a general purpose
| newsgroup such as "misc.misc".  Clearly mark your article as a product
| announcement in the subject.  Never repeat these -- one article per
| product at the most; preferably group everything into one article.
| Advertising hype is especially frowned upon -- stick to technical
| facts.  Obnoxious or inappropriate announcements or articles violating
| this policy will generally be rejected.  This policy is, of course,
| subject to change if it becomes a problem.

I see no reason why regional newsgroups like tor.general should be any
different from the net-wide groups in this respect.  A posting such as
the one under discussion *should*, I think, be unwelcome here; though
one dealing with the same material and presenting it in matter-of-fact
fashion, would, I think, be welcome to be posted *once*.  (This doesn't
mean once to tor.general, then once to ont.general, etc., of course.
Actually, I don't think it's *ever* appropriate for the same material
to appear in both newsgroups, whether by cross-posting or otherwise.)

The easiest way to settle this for now seems to be to run a little poll.
Do you think that the above guidelines, allowing limited commercial
postings, are about right, or should they be varied, and if so which way?
Please reply by *email* to [e-mail] (also reachable as [e-mail],
[e-mail], ...!utzoo!sq!msb, and as a last resort,
[e-mail]).  Please change the *Subject* line of your message to one of:

Subject: Poll: no change wanted on commercial postings in tor.general
Subject: Poll: loosen guidelines on commercial postings in tor.general
Subject: Poll: tighten guidelines on commercial postings in tor.general

Only the Subject line will be read.  Mail retaining the Subject line of
this article will be ignored -- I don't want to debate, just to poll.

I'm posting this early Friday afternoon, January 22.  sq is going down
this evening for major software changes, so it may be down for some time
into the weekend if the task proves more difficult than expected, but
it will surely be up early next week.  Mail for me should be held, but
if it does time out, please resend it.  I'll post a count of responses
on or about Tuesday, January 26.
--
Mark Brader        "I conducted a Usenet poll ... on this subject ...
Toronto             Laura is single.  By a 2-1 margin."  -- Ken Perlow
utzoo!sq!msb, [e-mail]

This article is in the public domain.