At 07:50 PM 5/28/97 GMT, Cortlandt Wilson wrote:
>All,
 <snip> An apparently well thought out justification for listing on the
Interex webserver.

I must agree with Cortlandt that his points are quite valid.  It is certain
that if you believe that your information will be seen (and I think that
the Interex website will be), then $100/year is an insignificant amount.  I
would; however, suggest that the "no cost" listings such as the one that I
edit and 3K Associates graciously hosts are simply yet another avenue for
getting your message out.  If I were trying to advertise my services, I
would think that any free service would be an obvious choice and then
choices such as the Interex website would be selected based upon the
reasoning that Cortlandt provided.

<SOAP-BOX>
The problem that I have with much of the material in this thread is that it
points out a festering problem within the Interex organization.  As a
long-time (but no longer) member of Interex, I have seen it transpose from
an organization of volunteers that provided an excellent vehicle for the
exchange of information into a Corporation that appears to be in it simply
for the bucks.  I understand that finances are a necessary part of running
an organization and that without money, services are difficult to deliver
but Interex seems to have lost sight of it's original charter.  I know and
appreciate that there are still a core of dedicated volunteers and we
should still be thankful for that.

When I began in the hp3000 community, it was a very close-knit group and
everyone was willing to help one another in the spirit of advancing the
hp3000 environment.  That is the way 3K Associates still seems to operate
judging by the "free" hosting of things such as the vendor directory,
employment opportunities, etc.  As the years have gone by, the community
has become somewhat more business-like and the cooperation between vendors,
while still there, is a bit more close to the chest.  The place where the
spirit of open cooperation has suffered the most seems to be the way
Interex treats anything that they perceive to be competition.  In the case
of this thread, it is a refusal by Interex to join the community and
provide links to the wealth of other information available for the HP
community.  I understand that Interex is an organization that relies on
membership fees to support itself and that is OK but it shouldn't preclude
being a good citizen of the community.

I originally began what is now the 3k hosted vendor list because I was
fed-up with the contents of the Interex published vendor directories.  The
Interex directories are so content challenged that they are all but
useless!  I would suggest that a model more like the phone book would be
more appropriate.  Everyone in the community gets listed in the "yellow
pages" and then those who wish to pay for a "nice" listing get to do so for
a fee. That way, the directory is useful, Interex collects revenue from
it's advertisers and everyone is better served.
</SOAP-BOX>



Brian Duncombe  [log in to unmask]  http://www.triolet.com
"Inside every large program is a small one struggling to get out."
          C. A. R. Hoare