Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site watmath.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!bstempleton From: bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Re: The poster should pay for news Message-ID: <5575@watmath.UUCP> Date: Mon, 25-Jul-83 03:05:07 EDT Article-I.D.: watmath.5575 Posted: Mon Jul 25 03:05:07 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 25-Jul-83 03:16:16 EDT References: <796@utcsstat.UUCP> Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 47 Well, let me expand upon several points. This kind of scheme can only be done in a usenet, inc. scenario like I and Mark Horton have proposed before, both on the net and at Usenix. This is a system where the usenet is run by a profit-making company that maintains a central node with all databases, routing information etc. [There has been some debate as to whether such a company would control the net against the wishes of its customers. I state again that no company goes against the wishes of the people who pay it money, and furthermore this company would work mainly as a store and forward station and would make no judgements on content unless lawyers said it would be forced to by law.] As for deciding who you will accept from? Laura just made a short list in a few minutes. It may not be complete, but the idea is that you add something to the list when it starts to annoy you or you decide you like it. Really not that much work, and not too much disk space when it is on a site by site basis. News distribution would not all be from the central site. Sites would in fact pay a premium to be connected to the central site. Otherwise they might redistribute the news on an "amway" or "pyramid" type basis, either taking a (small) profit on what they pass along, or if they have a non-commercial system, just taking their own news for free in exchange. This only refers to collect news. I maintain that in this area we have a system at least as good as the one now. Any debates about who pays for what in the collect news are no different for what we have now when it is essentially all collect. (ie. most of the cost, if not all, is payed by the forwarding and reading sites) If individuals start going crazy with postings like this month's 53 article winner, does anybody not think they should pay for this? Usenet inc. is just a germ of an idea right now. It's main goal would be to equalize and lower the cost of usenet to everybody. The main thing blocking its formation is the fact that many netters are fooled into thinking the net is currently free because rich companies handle their costs (or the cost gets absorbed into their big corporate phone bill) and they don't see why they should start paying for something that is free. (I don't know how much the net costs, my survey failed because nobody has the time to work it out. It's not cheap, though. Ask Armando or Bill Shannon!) -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304