From balloon-request@cvs.rochester.edu Wed Nov 22 14:05:45 1995 id AA04785; Wed, 22 Nov 95 14:03:20 EST Date: Wed, 22 Nov 1995 14:03:08 -0500 (EST) From: Larry Moss To: Balloon Sculpting Mailing List Subject: Web access - admin stand In-Reply-To: Message-Id: > I wasn't going to post this to the group, but I think we all need this > reminder. > > Some people don't have ftp or WWW access. Or they may not know how to use > it. Or they may have access but can't download it. I can't believe I'm about to say this since for a long time I went out of my way to cater to the lowest common denominator with maintenance of this stuff, and I really hope I dont' offend anyone, but ... Net access has become cheap and easily accessible in most parts of the world. When this was just a mailing list, and ASCII drawings were all anyone sent out, we didn't need direct internet connections for everyone. The net has just grown, and so has "the mailing list." Several years ago, almost everyone subscribed to this list had access to the net via work or school. Now nearly a third use AOL. Many more use other commercial providers. I know there are a few people that currently don't have web or ftp access, but given the volume of information that passes through here now and that is recorded in the archive and the balloon guide, I think it's perfectly reasonable to tell people that they can find that information there, and expect them to find their own way of doing it. I have helped a number of people that have mentioned troubles due to their type of connection, and if I have a solution for you, I'll be happy to give it, but when Mark gets frustrated at the same questions coming up that he spent hours compiling answers on, I can understand it. What it comes down to is, if this stuff is really useful to you and you dont' have the kind of access to the net you need to few web pages, subscribe to AOL. Or, better yet, if you only need to check the guide occassionally, let me know. I've got at least 100 free hours on AOL on all the different disks I have from them (if I haven't erased them yet). A lot of work has gone into developing the web pages. If you have questions about something that wasn't clear in teh web pages, post about it and someone will clarify it. That clarification will make its way into the web pages. If you even indicate that you were looking for something that you couldn't find, we'll do our best to straighten things out and add the correct links to simplify your searches. Larry