On Fri, 24 Feb 1995 07:03:19 PST Dave Gomberg said:
>Eric, there will be a HUGE shakeout of lists in this transition.  That
>is a VERY GOOD THING (tm).  If a list isn't worth $1 to each reader, it
>isn't worth ANYONE supporting it.
 
 
Let me be blunt - I won't pay $1 per month for ANY list.  Not
LSTSRV-l (-m, etc.).  Not HDESK-L or ADVICE-L (lists for helpdesk
professionals).  Not VM-UTIL or MAILBOOK.  NONE of them.
 
Who looses by loosing *me*?  Certainly I do, no arguemnt there.  But
so do YOU and everyone else that reads the lists.  I would even
suspect that without a FREE source of feedback (via LSTSRV-L), Listserv
itself wouldn't be here.  How would Eric have known what we - the
customers, wanted?
 
Face it, the networks (both Bitnet and the Internet) were built on
sites doing things for the common good of the entire network.  If it
stops, the network itself will not be here long.
 
But what disturbs me the most is where this leads.  What's next -
charging for letting my mail pass through your site because the person
I want to talk to is on the other side of you?  It certainly costs
your site $.  Your site gets no returns from my message.  What would
you charge (the USPS charges .32, email gets there 100 times quicker,
let's charge $3.20 per message passing through).....
 
EVERY list already is being paid for - the only question is who pays
the brunt of it.  Those lists that are lucky enough to have a person
insterested enough locally to run it have a site they can use for
free.  Those that don't, *may* have to have the subscribers pay the
price.
 
 
>So you see, I am very happy with what is happening.  It is LONG overdue.
>Do you agree?
 
In a word - NO.
 
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Chris Barnes                                 (409) 846-3273 (home)
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"If the mind can conceive it, the body can achieve it."
      Napoleon Hill  (in his book _Think & Grow Rich_)