In addition to offering access to anonymous FTP listings, archie also
permits access to the whatis description database. It includes
the names and brief synopses for over 3,500 public domain software
packages, datasets and informational documents located on the
Internet.
Additional whatis databases are scheduled to be added in the
future. Planned offerings include listings for the names and locations
of online library catalog programs, the names of publicly accessible
electronic mailing lists, compilations of Frequently Asked Questions
lists, and archive sites for the most popular Usenet newsgroups.
Suggestions for additional descriptions or locations databases are
welcomed and should be sent to the archie developers at
archie-l@cs.mcgill.ca.
"Was f@"ur pl@"undern!"
("What a place to plunder!")
Gebhard Leberecht Bl@"ucher
------
Usenet News
Original from: chip@count.tct.com (Chip Salzenberg)
[Most recent change: 19 May 1991 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)]
The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is widely
misunderstood. Every day on Usenet the "blind men and the
elephant" phenomenon appears, in spades. In the opinion of the
author, more flame wars (rabid arguments) arise because of a
lack of understanding of the nature of Usenet than from any other
source. And consider that such flame wars arise, of necessity, among
people who are on Usenet. Imagine, then, how poorly understood Usenet
must be by those outside!
No essay on the nature of Usenet can ignore the erroneous impressions
held by many Usenet users. Therefore, this section will treat
falsehoods first. Keep reading for truth. (Beauty, alas, is not
relevant to Usenet.)