Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site utastro.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!ut-sally!utastro!fbr From: fbr@utastro.UUCP (Frank Ray) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: More on the Anonymous Book Message-ID: <1037@utastro.UUCP> Date: Tue, 26-Feb-85 15:14:48 EST Article-I.D.: utastro.1037 Posted: Tue Feb 26 15:14:48 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Mar-85 05:41:16 EST Distribution: net Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX Lines: 19 The funding for the anonymous book for the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America, I'm relatively certain, comes from the annual dues of its members. If there were such a thing for netters, hackers and such, perhaps it could be initially set up in a database of the network, such that one could post (or withdraw) a (short) record of what he or she is interested in, plus the locality for use as a retrieval key. It would also be nice if one could access the data base over a standard touchtone telephone. I shouldn't think synthesized voice output should be too difficult these days. However, that raises the question of maintenance and cost. Maintenance could be made somewhat automatic by using decay factors and automatic deletion rules. Considerations of cost are somewhat beyond my understanding of the network, but there's probably a solution. How about some sociologist proposing a grant to study, say, "samaritanism in the modern era", set it up, let people use it, then worry about permament funding 2 years down the line. That's how "Stardate" began. fbr