[12143] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Internet Company Commercial Market Newsgroups -- FAQ
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Rob Raisch, The Internet Company)
Sat May 7 04:59:12 1994
Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 22:43:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Rob Raisch, The Internet Company" <raisch@internet.com>
To: Commercialization and Privatization <com-priv@psi.com>
Cc: cni-modernization@cni.org
Frequently Asked Questions
about the
Commercial Market Newsgroups (Market.*)
Robert Raisch
The Internet Company
Fri May 06 1994
info@market.com
This document provides answers to the following questions:
Q: What are the "market.*" newsgroups?
Q: What core newsgroups make up the "market.*" hierarchy?
Q: And what are the advertising newsgroups themselves?
Q: Will there be more newsgroups in the future?
Q: How can I read the notices posted in the 'market.*' newsgroups?
Q: Who created them? Who manages them?
Q: Why are the advertising groups moderated?
Q: Isn't it illegal to use the Internet for commercial purposes?
Q: What about the things I have heard about 'unsolicited advertising'?
Q: Isn't this "unsolicited advertising?"
Q: How can I make sure I never have to see these advertisements?
Q: Why not use the 'biz.*' newsgroups?
Q: Why would I want to use these newsgroups to market my products/services?
Q: How can I post an advertisement?
Q: What are the requirements for an 'appropriate' posting?
Q: How much does it cost to post in the 'market.*' newsgroups?
Q: How do the 'market.*' newsgroups benefit the global Internet community?
--
Q: What are the "market.*" newsgroups?
A: The market.* newsgroups are provided as a culturally acceptable mechanism
to share information of a purely commercial nature with the global Internet
community.
--
Q: What core newsgroups make up the "market.*" hierarchy?
A: There are two core newsgroups,
market.announce - is a moderated newsgroup created to share
information about the service with the Internet community.
market.discuss - is a newsgroup dedicated to ongoing discussions
about the service. It is not moderated and any can participate.
It should be noted that market.discuss is probably not a very good place
to discuss the ongoing commercialization of the global Internet. There
are other, far more appropriate forums dedicated to this purpose and by
its very nature, market.discuss will likely contain more interest in
discussing the market.* newsgroups than to comment on the changing
nature of the network as a whole.
--
Q: And what are the advertising newsgroups themselves?
A: The market.* newsgroups contain five moderated commercial groups,
market.internet.access - will contain marketing information of and
about access to the global Internet including shell accounts, dialup
SLIP or PPP services, and dedicated leased-line connections.
market.internet.products - will contain marketing information of and
about products available over or in conjunction with the global
Internet including routers or other hardware items, TCP/IP protocol
products, applications and information or publishing products.
market.internet.services - will contain marketing information of and
about services available over or in conjunction with the global
Internet including seminars and training services, information
retrieval or distribution services, and general Internet related
consulting.
market.internet.publications - will contain marketing information of
and about publications about or provided over the global Internet.
market.internet.events - will contain marketing information of and
about events specific to the global Internet.
--
Q: Will there be more newsgroups in the future?
A: Yes. Soon after the initial roll-out of the Internet specific newsgroups,
the service will begin to expand through the creation of new moderated
newsgroups dedicated to other categories of commercial marketing
communications, including,
market.business.* - for business products, services and publications
market.computer.* - for computer products, services and publications
market.consumer.* - for consumer products, services and publications
market.health.* - for health products, services and publications
market.finance.* - for financial products, services and publications
etc...
--
Q: How can I read the notices posted in the 'market.*' newsgroups?
A: To read the advertisements and other postings in the 'market.*' newsgroups
you will need to have access to a local host which supports the standard
collection of Usenet newsgroups.
If you are unsure of the tools required to read news locally, contact your
system adminstrator or support staff for help.
If your local host already supports Usenet news, but does not yet carry
the 'market.*' newsgroups, please contact your system administrator and
request that they carry them.
For sites interested in carrying the 'market.*' newsgroups, please contact
'staff@internet.com' or check with your upstream news provider.
--
Q: Who created them? Who manages them?
A: The market.* newsgroup hierarchy was created and is managed by The
Internet Company -- a technical services firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Further information about The Internet Company can be gained by sending
electronic mail to 'info@internet.com' or by using gopher to connect with
'gopher.internet.com'
They are supported by The Electronic Newsstand, of Washington, D.C.
For further information about the 'Enews', send electronic mail to:
'info@enews.com' or visit their gopher at gopher.enews.com port: 2100
--
Q: Why are the advertising newsgroups moderated?
A: The primary reason is to control their use and create a useful service to
the Internet community which does not suffer from the problems which assail
the traditional, unmoderated newsgroups. We are attempting to reduce the
frequency of poorly targeted and otherwise ill-considered posting, cross
posting and the proliferation of sub-groups in a haphazard fashion. For
this service to succeed, we feel that a moderate level of control must be
exercised over its content.
Control through moderation also creates an opportunity for this service to
directly benefit the global Internet community in far more measurable ways.
(See the final question in this document.)
--
Q: Isn't it illegal to use the Internet for commercial purposes?
A: This rumor is really a misrepresentation of the current state of the
network.
From the very earliest days of the Internet in the United States, there
were those companies who used it for their own commercial gain. This was
never considered to be improper or "against the rules" until the NSF
(National Science Foundation) began to fund portions of the largest
sections of the Internet in this countery.
Federal subsidy of this kind, if allowed to be used by commercial
companies, has the possibility of creating an unfair advantage of one
company over another.
Called the NSFnet, these sections of the 'Information Superhighway' were
for the express purpose of supporting education and research. There was
a time when the only way to send a message from one coast to another was
over communications facilities which were fully subsidized by the Federal
Government.
Those days are long behind us and although the NSFnet still exists, most
of the commercial use of the Internet in this country traverses portions
of the network which are paid for -- in their entirety -- by commercial
companies.
While there are still restrictions concerning use of the NSFnet for
commercial gain, saying that it is illegal to use the Internet for
business because the government pays for it is like saying the same thing
about the telephone system. While portions of the phone system are paid
for by the government (those portions which they use), the government
does not own nor control the Internet in this country.
--
Q: What about the things I have heard about 'unsolicited advertising'?
A: In the real world, advertisers pay to get their message to potential
customers. The only expense we pay is the time it takes to decide whether
or not we want to consider the advertiser's message.
In the virtual world (on-line), the advertiser pays to send out advertising
AND the consumer pays to receive it. This is the basis for the cultural
resistance on the global Internet against commercial advertising.
If we do not ask to receive information -- if we do not solicit it, anything
we receive is stealing our time at the very least and in the worst case,
a portion of the money we pay to our Internet access provider for our
connection the network.
--
Q: Isn't this "unsolicited advertising?"
A: Since the decision to read Usenet news is in the hands of the individual,
and in the hands of the local system administrator, providing advertising
through this service is not unsolicited.
--
Q: How can I make sure I never have to see these advertisements?
A: If you are a news administrator for a host which receives news from the
Usenet, you have the choice to either accept the market.* newsgroups on
behalf of your customers or users, or not to accept them -- perhaps based
on the fact that you run an educational or otherwise non-commercial site.
If you are a reader of the Usenet newsgroups, you have the personal choice
to read or ignore the contents of the market.* newsgroups.
--
Q: Why not use the 'biz.*' newsgroups? They are already there, aren't they?
A: The existing 'biz.*' newsgroups serve a different purpose.
Creating a new group in biz allows a company to have their own space on
the newsservice in which they have complete control over the content.
This is a valuable service and one which more and more businesses are using
to inform their customers of new products and services.
However, the biz groups are really only valuable if the reader already
knows something about the company in question.
'biz.oreilly.announce' for example, is an excellent place for consumers to
read the most recent press releases from O'Reilly and Associates -- a well
known publisher of technical books -- but if I do not know anything about
O'Reilly or their products, I have little incentive to visit their news
group -- even though I may have a strong interest in their products.
By structuring the 'market.*' newsgroups in distinct subject categories,
we hope to attract those consumers with an interest in the topic they have
chosen to visit.
--
Q: Why would I want to use these newsgroups to market my products/services?
A: In many ways, marketing answers the simple question: How can I inform
people that I have a product or service in which they might be interested?
Providing your product announcements on the coffee table in the reception
of your corporate offices is only as valuable as the number of people who
know that is where they are. Opening a storefront is only valuable if
people know where you are located and know how to find you.
Advertising answers this need -- but advertising is really most efficient
as a broadcast mechanism.
In the absence of simple ways of identifying those in our community with
an interest in our particular product or service, we turn to magazines,
newspapers, television, radio and direct mail. All of these share a single
characteristic -- they are broadcast methods of communications -- from one
to many.
The 'market.*' newsgroups are a socially acceptable method of broadcasting
commercial information to a wide and varied audience.
--
Q: How can I post an advertisement?
A: Postings are accepted via electronic mail at 'submissions@market.com'
Each advertisement must follow a simple format to allow us to properly
place the posting in its proper location in the news hierarchy and to
support further enhancements to the service -- including retrieval of
further information via electronic mail.
To receive a copy of the posting template and instructions on posting an
advertisement, send electronic mail to 'posting@market.com'
--
Q: What are the requirements for an 'appropriate' posting?
A: Postings must follow the following rules:
1. Postings must be placed in the most appropriate newsgroup.
2. Postings must conform to the defined posting template.
3. No single post may be repeated more that once a week.
4. Each posting must clearly mention the supporting agency or
individual and include contact information.
5. Anonymous advertising will not be accepted. Postings must come
from a reachable electronic mail address AND be confirmable via
telephone.
6. The Internet Company retains the sole right to determine the
appropriateness of any post.
--
Q: How much does it cost to post in the 'market.*' newsgroups?
A: Placing a message in the 'market.internet.*' groups will always be free.
We believe strongly that this service will help to build the very network
in which it operates.
Rather than charge the very companies who help to build the global Internet
into the useful and rich resource it is and will be, we would rather
support the continued growth of the commercial Internet by offering those
portions of this service specific to it, for no fee.
Placing a message in the other newsgroups will be charged based on the
ratecard for the specific newsgroup. When further newsgroups are created,
the charges for posting will be determined and published in the
market.announce newsgroup.
--
Q: How do the 'market.*' newsgroups benefit the global Internet community?
A: The Internet Company feels strongly that this service must provide a
measurable benefit to the global Internet community above its value as
a channel for commercial solicitation where none existed before.
To that end, a portion of the revenues generated from this service will be
set aside as a "Free Resource Support Fund" to support the free
technologies and services of the global Internet.
This fund will be used to support the continued development of such free
technologies as the GN gopher server, freeWAIS and the World Wide Web.
It will also be made available through a collection of grants and gifts to
support those sites on the global Internet which provide information and
other resources to the community.
It is expected that a commission made up of members of the global Internet
community will be created to decide which portion of the Free Resource
Support Fund will be awarded to which project.
If you are interested in participating in the formation of this commission,
please drop us a line.
--
Thank you for your interest in the market.* newsgroups. If you have any
questions which are not answered in this document, please do not hesitate
to contact us.
-- The Commercial Market Newsgroups Staff <staff@market.com>
