Creation of newsgroup uk.rec.lepidoptera

[Martin Hough]

A simple suggestion-

Why not just stick to this newsgroup, and UK posters put "UK" as a prefix to
their posting titles?

Then those who are not interested need not download them, those who are only
interested in UK can read just them, and we can monitor how much in reality
the UK lepidopterists will be posting. If so many UK postings arise that
they start jamming up the works, that would be the time to start a new
specialist newsgroup.


>From Graham Durbin, proposer, newsgroup uk.rec.lepidoptera, in response to
>Neil Jones' postings of Nov 24 & 25 (these are quite long, so I haven't
>included them in this posting)
>
>1.  Yes, I am indeed inexperienced, having only connected to the net about
>6 weeks ago.  This surely doesn't preclude me from doing no more than
>making a suggestion to those
>with more experience; or does it?
>
>2.  Being a newcomer, I confess that I do not fully understand the
>significance of the fact
>that sci.bio.ent.lep. is connected to the LEPS-l mailing list, so I cannot
>argue with his
>point that this makes it more accessible.  However, is his statement "many
>UK
>lepidopterists cannot...use usenet" likely to hold good in the future?
>
>3.  My lack of usenet postings is partly explained by the fact that I am a
>newcomer.
>However, the main reason why I have not made any postings to sci.b.e.l. is
>the thought
>that, whilst UK subscribers might be interested in the fact that, for
>instance, small
>coppers (L. phlaeas) were still on the wing in Derbyshire in Mid-November,
>the
>significance of this would be completely lost on the rest of the world;
>surely I'm not alone
>in thinking this way? Hence the thought that there might be a demand for a
>UK-oriented newsgroup, where such reservations would not apply.
>
>4.  I have no desire whatsoever to undermine the importance of sci.b.e.l -
>indeed, it
>would be against the interests of any lepidopterist to do so.  My only
>thought was that
>the existence of a UK newsgroup might encourage MORE interest, by providing
>UK enthusiasts with a forum for postings which they felt were not of
>sufficient interest world-wide.  Items of wider interest would, of course,
>still be cross-posted to sci.b.e.l.
>