Message Networks


    In "editorial" style, I should explain that my intention in
    continuing these notes on message networks is specifically to
    encourage people to explore this incredible opportunity for
    information exchange.

    Hardly a person would disagree that the single most valuable
    liberty we cherish is the right to speak freely of our
    beliefs. As long as that individual right is preserved, the
    general freedom of the society is at much less risk.

    The message networks offer a unique opportunity for vast
    numbers of people to freely exchange and discuss ideas. The
    hundreds of thousands of posts that move through the various
    networks daily represent an unimaginable volume of information
    flowing between people who might otherwise never have known
    the others existed.

    A quick scan of the origin tags found at the bottom of each
    message immediately identifies writers from practically every
    state in our union, and dozens of countries around the world.
    This explosion of communication has happened during the
    lifetime of virtually everyone who now enjoys netmail.

    The EchoMail networks have done what no other medium to date
    could begin to accomplish. Printing, radio, television, and the
    telephone were each great strides in bringing information to
    the masses, but it is the messsage networks that provide the
    ability for each of us to voice our own opinion, develop a
    dialogue with others in locales remote from our own, and do so
    with consistant regularity.

    I was prompted to write this after reading my "daily mail" and
    finding that in one mail packet, in one echo, I was informed
    of both the "on-sight" impressions of those having just
    experienced the recent California earthquake, and moments
    later reading the personal experiences of a medical response
    team in Fort Wayne, Indiana that sprang into action readying
    for deployment to the region if needed.

    The Fort Wayne group noted their hourly calls to an L.A. area
    BBS to download messages regarding the current state of
    affairs, regular contact through CompuServe to gather the
    latest news reporting and messages, and a basic dependence on
    the BBS network to allow them to keep abreast of the
    situation.

    Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not contending that all there
    is to find in the message networks is an emergency response
    coordinator, but I was impressed by how "dependent" these folks
    were on a system that operates largely out of the hobby
    interests of thousands of SysOps and millions of users around
    the globe. We're all familiar with the role played by HAM
    radio operators in every catastrophic emergency, and they were
    no less valuable in this one, but the message nets allowed
    vastly larger numbers of people to communicate in nearly as
    effective a manner.

    Its primary purpose, like the HAM radio fraternity, is to
    provide a means of general communication between folks
    separated by geographical hindrences. That general
    communication ranges from almost mindless "chit chat" to
    "cutting edge" discussion of developing technology, and quite
    literally, everything in between !

    The echos cover topics that anyone might suggest, and then go
    on to include many that very few would have ever suspected.
    This ability to regularly contact hundreds of others with
    similar interests is truly a marvel of the "communcation age",
    and one that you should, at the very least, explore.
    Regardless your particular interests, regardless your
    location, regardless your age, regardless your level of
    education, you will most certainly find something of value
    somewhere in the message networks, even if it's just
    entertainment.

    Randy Britt
    Contributing Editor