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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