I would like to find out how many people are capable of *posting* to usenet so that we can vote on set up a metric system newsgroup. Many people here support the idea but failed to vote and we were defeated by a narrow margin.
I have used newsgroups extensively over the years. However, they are not well known by the majority of Internet users, and having a metric newsgroup would eliminate a large portion of the potential audience.
I would suggest instead a Yahoogroup group. It has all the features of a newsgroup and is much more accessible:
(1) anyone with a browser can access it
(2) anyone with email can access it
(3) If you use email, you can still use your browser to search archived messages going back years
(4) You just go set it up; you don't need anyone's permission or vote.
(5) you can post files for others to download (e.g., SP811)
(6) you can have automatic emails sent (e.g., announce metric meetings)
(7) you can easily set up surveys of members
(8) you can post pictures in a picture section
(9) you can set up a page of applicable links for others to access (e.g., NIST, SI Navigator)
(9) you can control membership as desired (open, moderated or closed)
(10) you can control individual messages as desired (moderated or not)
I cannot see why anyone would prefer a usenet group, and I have used both usenet and Yahoogroups extensively.
The political Yahoogroup that I moderate has existed since September 2000, now has 17,600 messages archived and searchable, has a dozen or so "reference" files available at anytime, links to various political sites, and pictures from political rallies and conventions. Usenet just does not measure up to this.
Terry, I would suggest you look into this. Go to www.groups.yahoo.com and your metric group can be up and running in 10 minutes.
I see also the message from Krishna. Why not just take over moderating of that group?
Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
