response 26 of 108:

Dec 30 18:34 UTC 1994

   Nope, sorry Andy, but I think the founder types will royally
disagree with you on that one.  There are many ways to contribute
to the system--money is only one way.  By being active and contributing
intelligent conversation to the system, we are all enriched, and in
ways that money simply can't buy.
   If we start to restrict incomming people in any real way, we will
be selecting for people who want to belong to a "club".
   To date, when we've hit the capacity of some piece of the system,
we've gone out and figured out how to get more of it.  Because we've
been open, we've gotten more material for the system, and have grown.
   The Internet is another case of a resource that needs to be
enlarged, somehow.  Back in '91, there were people who said that we
could not get on the Internet in the first place, because we just
couldn't.  People came forth and we got around those limitiations,
and now we're on the net.  Probably *most* of the people reading this
response would never have done so, had it not been for the idea amoung
some people here that it was a good idea to strive for!
   So we can do things.  The Internet link is the single most
expensive component of Grex, but that doesn't mean we can't figure
out ways to do that.
   I sure want to try before we even think of closing anything up
to lessen the number of people on here.

response 28 of 108:

Dec 30 19:12 UTC 1994

In general, andyv, my experience with the dialins vs telnet lag is that
the dialins (@ 2400 bps) will not experience the same lag as the telnet
connections.  This comparison depends, though, on how many people are
telnetting to the system (splitting usage of that single 28.8K modem),
other processes that use the internet link (like ftp and mail), how
many (and quality of) intermediate systems you are telnetting through,
and even your physical distance from Grex.  I often dial in to the
Univ. of Michigan NAS, login on a host there, then telnet to Grex.  The
lag I get is not often unbearable, but it can be at times.  If I were
telnetting from Singapore, I'd expect a fair amount of lag.  If I were
sharing that 28.8K internet link with very few people and processes, I'd
expect the link to beat a dialin.  Obviously, not often do we see few
people and processes sharing that link.

response 30 of 108:

Dec 30 20:10 UTC 1994

Re #19:  My question in #18 was sincerely and unsarcastically meant,
Andrew, despite what you seem to have read into it.  I asked what benefits
people see in a newsletter because I thought that looking at the benefits
could serve as a guide to deciding its content, format, frequency of
publication, etc.

I'll give my own answer to that question.  It seems to me that a news-
letter could serve as an aid to educating people on how to use some of
its features (especially less well-known but central ones such as
Picospan) and inform them of some of the interesting conferencing
activity that goes on here.  Many users seem to have a hard time
finding that stuff.  Hence my earlier suggestion that a newsletter be
emailed automatically to everyone who completes newuser, and that it be
sent to their alternate email address if they supply one.

response 32 of 108:

Dec 30 21:28 UTC 1994

I don't think so, Andy. I think we needed you to get involved.
Your misunderstanding over John's question was just a misunderstanding,
nothing more. It's resolved now.

I'm not sure what the format or audience of the newsletter should be.
John's suggestions are good ones, but not the only possibilities.
A newsletter aimed at the email inboxes of all new users would by 
necessity have to be quite short. This both because there would be
a large number of these going out on our link, and because it would be
easy with a longer message to provoke the new user to sent it to the
bitbucket unread. 

That would not be what is typically called a newsletter, though.
A typical newsletter contains messages from the staff and committee heads
describing progress, future plans, upcoming events, etc.
The need for this on Grex would be nil if all who cared read this coop
conference. Such a newsletter, if it is desirable, would be a digest
of info from coop together with perhaps some special pieces written
for the occasion of its publication by 1 or 2 victims^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hvolunteers.

The audience would be more actively involved users than new users, perhaps.
There could be room for more content than a newuser-letter, though.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to send it to everybody, on second thought.

Let's figure out what we want to put in the newsletter, and what its
purpose is. Then a lot of these questions should clear up.

response 34 of 108:

Dec 31 00:42 UTC 1994

I know you can read all the items and responses since a certain
date with the command "read since 12-29" or "read since 12/28"
or something like that.  I think it works with times, too,
i.e. "read since 6:00".

It's easy to tell which conferences have activity, if you
put a list of all of your conferences in a file called ".cflist"
and use the commands "check" and "next".

response 36 of 108:

Dec 31 01:27 UTC 1994

Sure, there's an easy way to do this - tell all the newbies
to either "write help" when they need help, or talk to me.

response 38 of 108:

Dec 31 19:02 UTC 1994

i produce a bi-monthly newsletter for the academy of early music.  some
months ago, in my spare time, i put some of the newsletters online in
HTML format, as an experiment.  you can check them out at:

   http://www.umich.edu:80/~cel/aspem/

not all of this is ready-for-prime-time, but might give you some ideas.

each of these newsletters cost between $150 and $200 for copying and mailing
expenses (the academy has a bulk mailing permit, though), and about
5 to 7 hours for reducing them to HTML for storing on-line.  the writing
and layout is done on a volunteer basis.  our distribution is about 400
via mail, and 50 extras.

a semi-annual snail-mail newsletter might be fun, informative, and
community-building.  having an e-mail blurb sent to new users is
a good idea, and so is having a news program or extended motd, but
maybe those are somewhat off the topic of a newsletter.

response 40 of 108:

Jan 2 06:38 UTC 1995

So, are we ready to move forward on setting up a newsletter?  I'd
expect several people should be involved.  It would be neat to have a
newsletter in Postscript form (laid out nicely with graphics, photos,
etc.) for people who wanted to grab it and print it out.  A text
version could also be made to go to all those places the users find
most convenient (lynx, menu, etc.).  I'd suggest a mix of people as
regular contributors (such as a staff person, a fair witness, a
regular party'er, a new user, etc.) or at least get the views of a
mix of users on Grex.

response 42 of 108:

Jan 2 18:24 UTC 1995

Tentative outline for an issue of a monthly Grex newsletter, final format
unknown.

The Grex Board meeting.  An article talking about the latest Grex board
meeting, talking about issues that were discussed, getting board members'
opinions on whatever the hot issue of the month is, generally letting the
uninformed know what's going on if they don't read the Coop conference and
John's minutes.

Feature: meet a Grexer.  A Bio and some other material about a Grexer, to
put a more human face on all this typing.  Questions might include: how
did you get started Grexing, what do you see as Grex's future?  More
questions that I can't think of right now.

The Newbie corner.  Help and tips on using Grex, from the "obvious" which
often isn't, to the arcane but useful.

Conference profile.  A new conference (other than Agora) gets profiled,
maybe by its fw(s), certainly in cooperation with them.  What is its
purpose?  What are some of its most interesting items?  Funniest?  Most
inflammatory?

Status report.  What crisis are we dealing with these days?  How are we doing?

That's a sample of things that might appear.  Obviously, there could be
more.  If there's a group that forms to take on this turkey, I'll
contribute my meager skills as a writer, and my not-so-meager skills as an
editor to it.

response 44 of 108:

Jan 3 04:27 UTC 1995

I'm especially interested in featuring our discussion here concerning
the consensus which seems to have been reached in the planning item.
We are calling for the users of Grex to particpate in keeping Grex
a wide open system which si going to try to stay ahead of the wave
of newusers coming on board while trying to maintain the quality.

I would like to see a few interviews with some of the staff.

response 46 of 108:

Jan 3 17:54 UTC 1995

What consensus was reached 3 years ago?  What do you believe is necessary
for a consensus on an issue?  Better yet, enter a brief summary of the item
describing what you think about the feelings of the contributors.

response 48 of 108:

Jan 5 04:31 UTC 1995

I agree with Rane here.  A "Grex" newsletter should be sanctioned by the 
board at least.  (better go back and see what I wrote ;-)