From hungary-online-owner Tue Mar 28 09:47:45 1995 Return-Path: owner-Hungary-Online Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id JAA13541 for hungary-online-out31415; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:47:45 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id JAA13532; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:47:34 -0800 Received: from 100263.15@compuserve.com () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online@hungary.yak.net (13530) Received: from dub-img-3.compuserve.com (dub-img-3.compuserve.com [198.4.9.3]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id JAA13527 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:47:25 -0800 Received: by dub-img-3.compuserve.com (8.6.10/5.941228sam) id MAA27220; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 12:46:52 -0500 Date: 28 Mar 95 12:44:48 EST From: "Rick E. Bruner" <100263.15@compuserve.com> To: Hungary-Online Subject: (HOL) Jim Kharouf & CompuServe Message-ID: <950328174448_100263.15_EHQ90-9@CompuServe.COM> Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Jim, are you out there? (If not, as the Sun's new techno reporter, you certainly should be monitoring this list), I read your recent report on the new CI$ Hungary section of the Europe Forum, "Local CompuServe offers chat forum," with interest (if not some puzzlement). I know you told me up-front when you asked me about this on the phone that you are a complete newbie to net.culture, so don't interpret this message as my being cruel. But as a former editor, sometimes I can't help but to niggle. I post this publicly as I asume some other HOLers saw the piece as well and might be interested, and those who missed it might anyway be glad to know who's new on the cyber-beat in town. Basically, your use of some terminology in the piece was confusing. In the lede, you say, "The new bulletin-board service, launched earlier this month by the o-line company..." I suppose it isn't exactly wrong to call the section a "bulletin-board service," but CI$ doesn't refer to its services as BBSes. A BBS is usually something much smaller, run of one computer for local dial-in access, in my understanding. I used that term on the phone with you just to put it in perspective. Maybe it helps readers understand the concept, but it sounds weird to me to talk of BBSes in the context of CI$. Next graph, you write there were "67 topics" in the section last week. Again, me being picky, perhaps, but I don't think "topics" is the right word. I think you mean "messages." Topics sounds to me like what they call "threads" on CI$, i.e., subjects of discussions, made up of messages building on each other. There probably weren't more than 15 different threads last week, but probably as many as 67 messages. (Other HOLers, back me up on this; is "thread" a universal net.term on BBSes and Usenet newsgroups, or is it CI$-specific?) What really threw me off in the article, however, was your use of the word "category." Again, I believe (but only after several reads) what you mean is "thread," though the first time through I thought CI$ had opened a new *forum* dedicated only to Hungary (as opposed to just the Hungary *section* of the Europe Forum; the headline also gives this impression). You wrote: "Robert Rose...wrote to the 'Hungarian Export' category..."; "In the 'Hungarian Business' category..."; "Another category under the Hungarian section is called 'Greeting From Hungary'; "'What Should I know' is a category that provides a brief history of Hungary..." and so on. In this case, I'm sure I'm not picking nits, but rather I suspect you're missing a basic concept. That is, these titles aren't fixed features of the section, but rather ephemeral, living discussions, that may not appear on the board again next time you log in. One person posts the original question or comment, creating the title themselves (e.g. "Hungarian Export"), and it stays on the board as long as other people are discussing it. If I'm not mistaken, I myself was the one who created the "Greetings From Hungary" title, but others have kept the discussion alive with tangents to my original posting. Sooner or later it will be off the board for good. That's what, in CompuServe anyway, is known as a "thread." Again, please don't think I'm busting your chops here. I just can't help being pedantic, that's all. And I'm happy if I succeed in dragging you into the discussion on this list, as this is the best place to ask dumb questions, as we're all interested here in topics that have to do with, well, quite frankly, Hungary online. We were all newbies once (though some of these guys haven't been for a long time -- in fact, I better qualify that by admitting that I myself still am). Also, I was annoyed that you mentioned the price for using the section as only $4.80/hr without mentioning the extortionate local premium charges (which do not, I hope you realize, exist in western Eruope or the US -- the subject happens to be a pet peeve on mine). Next, somebody needs to write a column about how to connect to AOL from Hungary, via Sprint or teletting on the Net. Mr. Carlson, for example? Cheers, Rick ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from "Rick E. Bruner" <100263.15@compuserve.com> # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############