Re: MARKED FOR POOP Re: PEAR DB 1.6.0 has been released - now OT if not originally

ed.prochak_at_magicinterface.com (Ed prochak) writes:

>>>Of the 4 ORACLE groups it might belong in c.d.o.marketplace.
>>
>>The charter for that group says it is for commercial announcements;
>>the article about PEAR DB was not commercial, so it is not
>>appropriate for .marketplace.
>
>Whether the product earns money for the poster or not, it is still a
>PRODUCT announcement.

Well sure (if you insist on calling all computer programs 'products', which I don't). But the charter does not talk about 'produc announcements', it talks about commercially-oriented messages.

>Also "open source" does not by itself mean non-commercial.

Indeed, but in this case PEAR DB is non-commercial.

>How would a casual reader know that in c.d.o.marketplace the article
>
>Subj: new PEAR DBI released
> is ON topic but
>
>Subj: new SAP released
> is OFF topic?

In that particular case, SAP would be offtopic anyway since it has nothing to do with Oracle except that it's an application which can use Oracle - similarly, announcing Doom 3 would be offtopic on a Windows newsgroup.

But assuming some program that is commercial and connected to Oracle - say, TOAD - then the difference should normally be clear to a casual observer. I can quickly tell the difference between a typical free software announcement - that briefly describes the program, lists the changes in this release, and gives a homepage and download - from a typical press release or marketing spam. Can't you?

(As for other kinds of content on the Net, it's essentially the difference between a message by one individual and a message from a corporate group. It's usually quite clear which is which, on the Web as on Usenet.)

For the non-casual reader, of course, one looks at the background to the programs, their copying conditions, who is behind them.

But in any case my point is simply that the charter as it stands *now* does not forbid non-commercial announcements on this group, if they are relevant to Oracle. Indeed it seems to suggest this group is the best place and that .marketing is not appropriate. What the charter should say, or what should be the new policy to best combat spam on this group, is a separate discussion. (Myself I'd be pleased to see announcements of free software on this group, so they can be constructively discussed, but if others wanted them banished to .marketplace I'd go with the majority view.)

-- 
Ed Avis <ed_at_membled.com>