USENIX Standards Funding Decisions

[jsq at usenix.org]

Submitted-by: jsq at usenix.org

In article <13100 at cs.utexas.edu> From: Don_Lewine at dgc.ceo.dg.com
>This is a terrible idea!  comp.std.unix is one of the best newsgroups
>on the net.  The moderation seems to help a great deal.  The overall
>signal/noise ratio is very high and the group is not flooded with 
>flame wars.

>I don't know who to write and express my opinion, but I do want to
>protest.

The address of the USENIX Executive Director was in the original
announcement:

	Ellie Young
	USENIX Association
	2560 9th St Suite 215
	Berkeley, CA 94710
	ellie at usenix.org

The names and electronic addresses of each of the eight members of
the elected Board of Directors is in each issue of ;login:.

>  What does comp.std.unix cost per Usenix member?  I would
>be happy to kick in my share.

The relevant items in the budget proposal that was rejected were:

Newsgroup:	4,800
Mailing list:	1,500

This was for fiscal 1991, for a total of $6,300 proposed for these items.
I derived these numbers from time actually spent this year.  The
division between newsgroup and mailing list is somewhat arbitrary:
basically, if I had to edit /usr/lib/aliases, I marked it as mailing
list, otherwise as newsgroup.

There are about 4,000 USENIX members, which would mean about $1.75 per
member annually to support the newsgroup and mailing list.  However,
the financials don't really work that way, due to multiple sources of
funds (also including conference and tutorial registration fees) and
various offices, expenses, and projects for the Association to support.

In the end, funding decisions are up to the judgement of the Board of
Directors.  While you or I may not agree with a given decision, please
keep in mind, especially in any correspondence with them, that they were
only doing their job.

John S. Quarterman, USENIX Standards Liaison

Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 178