Re: *Still* nothing Apple II related from Macintosh Inc

[toddpw@ugcs.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)]

shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford) writes:

>Matt Portune (mportune@telerama.REMOVETHIS.com) wrote:

>: Yes, but isn't that what comp.sys.mac.* is for?  I thought that's how usenet 
>: worked.

>Everyone needs to get a firm grasp of the fact that Mac != Apple. Apple is a
>company, and Macs are one product of the company.

Quite so, but this is comp.sys.apple2 we're posting on.

There was a comp.sys.apple, but it was replaced by csa2 about 1989-1990.
comp.sys.mac was going strong and ready to split into subgroups.

On a more general note:

When somebody posts off-topic for too long, you change your Followups:
header and say "followups to <other-newsgroup>" and rely on everyone else
in the thread cooperating, or at least taking discussions to e-mail. This
is usenet, and there is no enforcement of "on-topic-ness" partly because
what is on-topic is partly subjective. Firm disagreements could be settled
by a vote, I suppose.

Information about Apple in general is worth discussing here because even
though they will never make another Apple II product ever again (heck,
the Mac is in enough deep do-do as it is) they did license the Apple II
to Tiger for the Tiger Learning Computer. Also the continued existence of
Apple does impact copyrights on present Apple II products which is of such
_great_ concern to, say, the 8-bit emulator crowd. Besides, we can offer
perspective on Apple that Mac owners may not have.

Generally on usenet when there are chronic off-topic problems it is either
because no better newsgroup exists, few participants normally read it, or
because IT IS BEING USED AS A DEBATE TACTIC BY PEOPLE WITH AXES TO GRIND.

This last phenomenon is also why usenet has the "hitler" rule: any thread
which causes someone to make analogies to Hitler or Nazi Germany has gone
officially out of control and should be abandoned by everyone involved
until people have a chance to cool down and remember that no world-
shattering consequences will result if the thread terminates without
everyone agreeing on something. It's just a stupid news thread, after all.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ ugcs.caltech.edu