I would like to second Kathryn Wright's concerns re. BITNET as a safe
academic haven.  The Internet *is* becoming increasingly more commercial.
And who can keep up with the volume of mail on some of these Usenet places?
I'm just bearly getting familiar with some readnews features ... and my
first impressions are that BITNET *does* seem to have more academic
substance/integrity than the Internet ... in all of its anarchy and
multi-faceted talk options, commercial service offerings, et al.
 
Also, I very much appreciate the TELL command aspects of BITNET, particularly
as a listowner.  I have been maintaining two listserv sites ... one locally,
using Eric's revised LISTSERV, and one on a remote Unix/Internet site,
using the Kotsikona's "Discussion List server system."  I think there
are benefits and drawbacks to either set up, but from purely a listowner/
user standpoint, I have to vote Eric's package as the easier, more
convenient to maintain ... and this is not only because it is local.
I cannot send interactive commands to the Unix host, which means I
must send email messages OR edit the list everytime I want to add or
delete a subscriber or change their options.  Also, there is no database
application for searching the list server system archives ... features
I sorely miss on the Unix host.
 
There are other little things.  Like for a non-techie listowner, the
listserv commands/set-ups of Eric's LISTSERV are well documented and
fairly easy to fathom once one gets a bit familiar ... I'm not sure
this is as true of the Unix/Internet configuration, but I'm newer to that.
 
From a purely non technical, off-the-top of my head response, I would
hate to lose the convenience of a nice, easy-to-use LISTSERV package ...
and the TELL features that make listownership a breeze instead of a
bear!   But that's just my two cents worth ... and some of this has
already been discussed before in another context ....
 
Birdie MacLennan
University of Vermont