Fara,
 
Does this mean that BBS are useful means of communications?
In a recent issue, July/Aug of the Weasel Help Monthly (a publication
of FURO), for which you are editor-in-chief, you had written out very
strongly against BBSs in the article explaining why you did not put FURO on
electronic bulletin boards:
 
[I apologize in advance for any transcription errors]
 
     . . . One last expounding this time: Why is FURO not on the
     electronic bulletin boards?
 
     . . .
 
     Bulletin boards are fine for sharing certain types of
     information, but there is a historical tendency among bulletin
     board users to embellish whatever they read - and not *say*
     they did.
 
     . . .
 
     . . .  I use the bulletin boards - not the ferret ones, but the
     computer ones - for what they're good for, which is uploading
     and downloading files.
 
[Is not the FML a ferret bulletin board of a sort?   You've
been a member since May 1991.  After averaging about an item per
issue, complete silence since July 1991.]
 
     . . .
 
     . . . It is sad to have to say it, but any time you get a group
     of people together, some day that group will be large enough to
     include some extremely ... uh ... desperate-for-attention people,
     just as a result of either the spurious Law of Averages, or because
     of the well-documented Law of the Infinite Perversity of the
     Universe.
 
     . . .
 
     And as a result, all *WHM* readers have the *same*
     information, so that if by chance something ridiculous comes
     out attributed to me, or to someone in FURO, we can know in an
     instant who started it, because everyone will have exactly
     what we *did* say.
 
It seems a bit odd that you've publicly blasted BBSs in your editorial,
and yet here use the FML (not a BBS, but close enough) for advertising
your book.  Somewhat inconsistent wouldn't you think?  Have you had a
change of heart?
 
Your descriptions of possible difficulties with BBS' also seems to
indicate a misunderstanding of how they work.  Amongst other things,
your editorial seems to imply that propagation in BBS' is via manual
retranscription of messages.  From the perspective of someone who's been
on USENET/Internet for over 10 years, and is thoroughly versed in
network news, e-mail and other communications systems, it seems somewhat
misleading.
 
Aside from this particular situation, I'm somewhat hesitant about
including first-party advertising in the FML.  Amongst other things,
there's concerns about Internet AUPs, regional AUPs and sponsoring
organization's interests (ie: the company that owns *this* computer
and pays the communication costs).
 
I'd much prefer that an independent third party provide references/reviews
of such material instead of direct advertising.  I invite such, and will
include it in future issues.
 
Oh, I'm curious: if this is the third edition, how can it be a "first"?
 
[Posted in FML issue 0363]