What/who is bionet

[Una Smith]

John Drake asks:

     I would like some brief information about bionet.  It seems
     to me that there is an organization of some sort behind the
     bionet.  newsgroups, and it is this organization that I
     would like to know more about.  Is it formal, does it have
     meetings, who can I contact etc etc

Perhaps the bionet newsgroups are ready for a discussion of what they
(we) are, and their purpose.  I hope so, since I'd like to talk about
these issues.  Over the past year I have received a subscription list
about conservation biology.  For some reason that I can not guess, this
conservation list, CONSLINK, has been a virtually lifeless portal through
which trickles press releases.  My two small attempts to start a topic
died quick deaths;  the only responses I received made some comment on
the fact that I had posted something, but had nothing else to say.

Bionet, on the otherhand, has been somewhat more lively, although it
continues to be a vehicle for polite requests for help with (1) using
the network itself, (2) tracking down references, and (3) getting off
subscription lists.  Of course, this is a generalization, but I think
it is fair to say that the bionet newsgroups could become much more than
they are now, should the participants wish them to do so.

Any comments?  Should I go on, or does everyone just want to get the
job at hand done, and leave the philosophical discussions to the coffee-
shop crowd?

  - Una



  - Una            UNASMITH at PUCC                 : BITNET
                   unasmith at pucc.Princeton.EDU   : Internet
                   una at tropic.Princeton.EDU      : Internet