I'm not an expert on Newsgroups, but I was able to talk to my husband,
who is. From my conversation with him I gleaned some information that you
all might want to think about in answering Kathleen's question about
whether or not Lactnet should consider having a Newsgroup as well.
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.
Secondly, most folks need to put together a Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) list. This might be a lot of work.
Not everyone would have access to a Newsgroup, even if they have access
to e-mail.
We would not only be putting out our comments to everyone and his
brother, but also, we would receive answers from the informed, the
uninformed and the opponents, with no clue as to how qualified the
person was to answer.
We'd get all sorts of info that we may or may not want, e.g., mothers
asking basic questions on engorgement, folks trying to sell their
products, etc. We could probably write a charter that would eliminate
some of these, but it still may be more involved than what one might
initially think.
My husband says there may be quite a bit of discussion and controvery
about whether or not we'd be "sci.med" as there was a lot of discussion about
whether or not nursing was "sci.med.nursing" so this may work fine, but
will certainly elicit discussion. The creation of the group must be voted
upon by the newsgroup community. There are hundreds of groups that are
proposed, and they don't want to duplicate.
We could hear about all sorts of oddball things that we might not hear
about if we didn't have a newsgroup. If a woman had a nipple on her
chin, she'd have to go to someone who is on Lactnet in order for the
rest of use to know about it, but if we had a newgroup, we'd be
morelikely to hear about it! (Pardon me, but this was the only bizarre
example I could think of.)
So, I
hope this further clarifies the implications of going to a newsgroup. --
Marie Biancuzzo, RN MS Perinatal Nurse Consultant
PO Box 1562 Phone: 703-758-0092
Herndon, Virginia 22070-1562 email: [log in to unmask]
On Sat, 22 Jul 1995, Kathleen Bruce wrote:
> USENET news groups are bulletin board type animals...you can read them sort
> of like a newspaper...pick it up, read it, add your .02..there are many
> advantages and disadvantages to Newsgroups.
>
> You need a newsreader to read them...such as News WinVN, and tin, nn, or
> disagreements) are rampant on Newsgroups..People tend to be rude...but not
> always.
>
> By having Lactnet be a newsgroup such as sci.med.lactation (that could be
> its name) we might be able to increase our membership, but I am not sure
> this is an advantage. Anyone who has email now can join Lactnet.
>
>
> Kathleen
>
> *********************************************************************
>
> 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
> **********************************************************************
>
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