Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!sgiblab!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!csn!yuma!ops.agsci.colostate.edu!lbjostad
From: lbjostad@ops.agsci.colostate.edu ()
Subject: Re: BEAM Solar Engine "offer" apology
Message-ID: <1994Jan29.121211.41951@yuma>
Date: 29 Jan 94 12:12:10 GMT
References: <37565@mindlink.bc.ca>
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I agree with Fred, too.  In fact, I'm 9th (so far) in a thread of unanimous 
support for the freedom to post announcements that pertain to the robotics 
kit offering that sparked this thread.  I see it as a service, too, not an 
intrusion.

I'm not sure who makes the rules for netnews, but this seems to me a bad call.
Surely there must be provisions to allow certain kinds of "service" sales 
through the net.  If they are non-profit, for example, I see no problem, 
and I suspect that the net rules probably allow this already, especially 
if the posting stipulates that it is a non-profit enterprise.

Let me suggest another "radical" idea along these lines.  I think all of us 
are faced with the dilemma that we want to know about new products that have 
just become commercially available, but we don't want our squeaky-clean net 
polluted with tons of advertisements.  Since many or most newsgroups are 
moderated anyway, why not have the moderator maintain an FAQ that specifically
lists commercial sources related to the newsgroup?  Such an FAQ should be 
posted once a week to the newsgroup.  FAQs pretty much do this anyway, and 
it should keep everybody happy. I would even go so far as to suggest that 
any company should be allowed to make a one-time listing of a new product 
once a week.  It's obvious to me that we are desperately in need of some
flexibility here.

The way the net is currently getting around this is kind of silly.  Companies 
wait for people like me to read about a product we like in the print media, 
and then I report features, prices, or whatever as a private individual who 
is simply expressing an opinion.  It's clunky to do things this way.

