From 100442.3156@CompuServe.COM Sun Jun 2 18:51:20 1996 Received: from dub-img-5.compuserve.com for 100442.3156@CompuServe.COM by www.ccl.net (8.7.5/950822.1) id SAA26873; Sun, 2 Jun 1996 18:44:02 -0400 (EDT) Received: by dub-img-5.compuserve.com (8.6.10/5.950515) id SAA18785; Sun, 2 Jun 1996 18:41:41 -0400 Date: 02 Jun 96 18:40:55 EDT From: Maschek <100442.3156@CompuServe.COM> To: "P. van der Valk" Cc: , Subject: P. v.d. Valk : Commercial Postings Message-ID: <960602224055_100442.3156_BHG66-1@CompuServe.COM> Dear Dr. Van der Valk I am writing this to you -- copy CCL, CCLCOM -- in reference to your email regarding commercial postings. The points you mention are exactly the reasons the reasons why we have decided t create a separate list for commercial postings ( see attached message ). by having 2 lists at their disposal, the community will be able to avoid receiving emails they are not interested in. Those who want only accademic material subscribe to CCL only, all others with additional commercial interest subscribe to CCL and CCLCOM. Best regards Manfred Maschek --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- Dear CCL Subscriber : Having been a subscriber to this and other scientific mailing lists, we do understand how annoying commercial postings can be in an endevour which sole purpose is the free interchange of scientific and research information. On the other hand a certain percentage of subscribers do as well have an interest in receiving information about commercially available products and services. To solve the problems of both parties, those interested only in academic information and those with an additional interest in commercial information, we have decided to offer a free list service for such commercially relevant information. Everybody who is interested to read and/or to post commercial viable information can subscribe as of today to the Commercial Computational Chemistry List (CCLCOM) using the following command: subscribe to : cclcom-request@shore.net Yours sincerely, The Science Information Company owner-cclcom@shore.net From jsb2@camsoft.com Sun Jun 2 19:51:24 1996 Received: from camsoft.com for jsb2@camsoft.com by www.ccl.net (8.7.5/950822.1) id TAA26995; Sun, 2 Jun 1996 19:44:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Date: Sun, 2 Jun 96 19:44:11 EDT Received: by camsoft.com (4.1/3.1.090690-Cambridge Scientific Computing) id AA05147; Sun, 2 Jun 96 19:44:11 EDT Message-Id: <9606022344.AA05147@camsoft.com> To: cclcom@shore.net Subject: Re: CCLCOM: P. v.d. Valk : Commercial Postings Cc: chemistry@www.ccl.net > I am writing this to you -- copy CCL, CCLCOM -- in reference to > your email regarding commercial postings. > The points you mention are exactly the reasons the reasons why > we have decided t create a separate list for commercial postings > ( see attached message ). by having 2 lists at their disposal, the > community will be able to avoid receiving emails they are not > interested in. > Those who want only accademic material subscribe to CCL only, > all others with additional commercial interest subscribe to CCL > and CCLCOM. Keep in mind that this is a *very* slippery slope. The problem is how you define "commercial". According to the charter of another list (which shall remain nameless), a "commercial post" is "any message that might benefit the sender financially". By this definition of commercial, I am forbidden from responding to ANY posting. If that were the definition used on this list, even THIS message would be prohibited. Why? Because I intend to include my email address at bottom, and someone might contact me and ask what my company does. To single out a specific individual (in a positive sense), I have found the postings of Joel Polowin to be consisently polite, educated, and informative (hi, Joel!). As it happens, Joel works for a company that might be considered a competitor of the one I work for. His postings have given me a very positive opinion of him and (by extension) his company. A positive opinion of a company is certainly a good thing for that company, financially, and so by the restrictive definition above, all of Joel's postings to the CCL list would be prohibited. This would, in my opinion, be a Very Bad Thing. The CCL Help File reads, in part: >"Commercial software" is defined as any software that was sold to >anyone for more than the cost of handling and documentation. A >"commercial post" is defined as commercial software advertisements >posted by the people who develop or sell the software. Posts responding to >user questions, as well as bug reports, requests for comments, and tips on >efficient software use are not considered commercial postings and are >highly encouraged. Commercial software reviews or evaluations >conducted by people not associated with the software vendor/developer >are also encouraged. > >Those wishing to submit commercial posts to the list must abide by the >following rules. Short (25 lines or less) commercial postings are allowed. >They should include a straightforward subject line. Reposts are not >allowed unless new features/releases become available. Announcements >of "vaporware" (software that is not yet working or available) are not >allowed. I think these current rules are very reasonable. I also think that the VAST majority of posts to the CCL list (or at least those that make it out to the subscribers -- there's no accounting for Krazy Kevin, Jeff Slaton, and the like) follow the rules. I think it would be a shame to change the rules of the CCL list regarding commercial messages. Jonathan Brecher CambridgeSoft Corporation jsb@camsoft.com