On Fri, 6 May 1994 02:03:43 -0400 you said:
>On Thu, 5 May 1994, Nathan Brindle wrote:
>
>> And I have to say, I'm tired of hearing about "neophytes on the net."
>
>And yet there should be exceptions to many rules.  Nathan, you know the
>the community of patients that I serve.  As list-owner, I go out of my way
>to bring along the network neophytes on my lists so that they'll get and
>use the important, and sometimes vital, services that are available to
>them.
>
>I will guess that perhaps 95% (a random figure) of Listserv users should
>be presumed to have a certain level of net sophistication, but I hope that
>there will be some place for the perhaps ~5% of net users who are still truly
>neophyte, and that Listserv utilities will continue to be available (and
>developed) for those list-owners who want, or feel, that they need to
>serve those who are new to the nets.
 
This posting  caught my eye  because I run a  Listserv list that  was created
expressly to welcome  (i.e., teach) neophyte BITnet and  Internet users about
this new  world of  electronic communication.  If you know  of anyone  who is
confused about this  BITnet and/or Internet services, not  just Listserv, ask
them to  subscribe to Help-Net.  Its at VM.TEMPLE.EDU and  TEMPLEVM. Help-Net
is also  available via Usenet  as bit.listserv.help-net. Clearly,  the novice
person needs  to know  enough to  read Help-Net postings,  but that  level of
knowledge is very basic. Help-Net is somewhere  between 4 and 5 years old and
it  has  around 1400  subscribers  usually.  I  have received  very  positive
feedback  from many  people  about how  much they  learned  about BITnet  and
Internet services through other Help-Net subscribers.
 
Help-Net is also  a store house of documents which  describe various services
that  are  available on  both  BITnet  and the  Internet.  So  of this  stuff
includes  a network  related FAQ  file,  stuff about  E-mail, Listserv  info,
network etiquette,  how to find  E-mail addresses, and  so on. These  are all
written at very  basic levels of knowledge from a  technical standpoint. This
documentation is available  three ways. Via the  traditional Listserv archive
method plus Gopher and anonymous ftp (which is down at the moment).
 
Many novice  Internet and BITnet  users over  the years have  increased their
knowledge of  various network  services considerably thanks  to the  kind and
generous help that's provided by  more sophisticated Help-Net subscribers. If
you want more information about Help-Net, please let me know.
 
I  am sorry  blatantly  plugging  Help-Net here.  I  do,  however, feel  that
Help-Net provides  a free service  that many  novice network users  find very
helpful once they find out about it.
 
 
  Stan  Horwitz  Internet: [log in to unmask]  Bitnet:  STAN@TEMPLEVM
  Temple University  -- Senior  Consultant (My  views are  all mine!)
  Manager of the Help-Net and Suggest lists and Listserv Postmaster.