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: The poster should pay for news Message-ID: <5574@watmath.UUCP> Date: Sun, 24-Jul-83 01:58:58 EDT Article-I.D.: watmath.5574 Posted: Sun Jul 24 01:58:58 1983 Date-Received: Sun, 24-Jul-83 02:54:29 EDT Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 28 Wouldn't it be nice if the poster paid for the cost of transmitting the news rather than those who get it? This would be like the postal service or private publishing. What we have now is the receivers and forwarders paying the cost. If we had USENET Inc. this could be arranged. Then all the xxx@mit-eddies and Mad Programmers and people on Soap Boxes and warlocks in dungeons and users of overworked keywords and users of net.test and net.general would get a bill (no names, no suit) for what they posted that month. One sure effect would be that people would shut up. Essentially, what I think we want is a system where the poster has to pay but the receiver can accept collect messages. Thus most people will say, "I'll accept collect from the following people", where those people will be digest moderators (magazine editors) and wonderful people like myself ( 8-> ) They might accept certain groups collect and some not. Thus if you want to post, you can pay for it, in which case everybody gets it, or you can send it to a moderator who can moderate it, or you can just send it out and hope that enough people are willing to take it collect. Note that libertarians (like me, in my own fashion) can't complain about this idea because it includes the current system as a subset. If people love the current system so much, they can elect to get everything collect and get the same mess they have now. For myself, I know a fair number of people I would not accept collect.... -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304