Marie, thank you for that lovely explanation of usenet newsgroups. Indeed, you say it well. Despite the complexities involved, many people prefer newsgroups....My gut feeling is that I prefer Lactnet to remain as an email group. This is not to say that it could never be a newsgroup, but as Marie indicates, we would be much more open to the general public as a newsgroup..and we would spend a lot of time putting out fires. Marie stated: First, virtually anyone can be out there and lurk! This means that our comments could be read by the informed, the uninformed, and the opposition. The owner cannot cut someone out the way they can if they are running a list. This is not quite true. A Newsgroup CAN be moderated..that is, if Lactnet went to Newsgroup format (which I am NOT planning, for those new to this discussion..only hypothesizing)..it could be a MODERATED newsgroup..we would see every message before it was posted. THis brings with it a whole new set of problems. Just a discussion. Anyhow, let's drop this discussion on Lactnet..and bring it underground. Anyone who want to discuss possibilities of LACTNET being a usenet group please EMAIL ME PRIVATELY. I will not respond until after 7/29. I will be unavailable from today through then. Thanks. The reason to take the discussion underground to private email is to keep our LACTNET list solely for the purpose of discussing Lactation. Thanks! Kathleen Bruce ********************************************************************* Kathleen B. Bruce RN, BSN, IBCLC (e-mail = [log in to unmask]) If you wanna see something cool...try this www page! http://www.mcs.com/~auerbach/lactation.html **********************************************************************