marder at agri.huji.ac.il writes:
: [...stuff deleted]
: We have a choice facing us in the wording of the charter; either we include
: a list of "topics" (to be assembled from the interests of contributors to
: this discussion) or we go for a very general "ALL ASPECTS OF PLANT
: BIOLOGY". The first approach has the advantage of attracting those who find
: "their subject" listed - but we might discourage potential participants who
: don't see their interests represented.
:: I favour taking the second approach and to leave mention of specific topics
: out of the charter. Lets instead propose some discussion topics in the
: inital get-to-know-each-other postings. I was impressed with the excellent
: start to the "Chowder Society" list (Biological Information theory - Tom
: Schneider et al.); an early "welcome" message from one of the newsgroup
: organisers listed a few potential topics and they never looked back. Once
: we win the vote on BIONET.PLANTS, it'll be up to us Plant Scientists to
: think up some topics and provocative questions to get the newgroup going.
I agree with your comments Jonathan.
When I first proposed the creation of a news group for plant biologists
I had my own (peculiar?) interests in mind ;-)
I think we are more likely to get a YES vote if the charter is changed
as you suggest, but do remember that bionet.arabidopsis and
bionet.agroforestry already exist and I don't want to alienate their
readers.
I'm not convinced we would have got this far without mentioning *some*
topics in the charter, but maybe now is the time to broaden it out to all
apects of plant biology, whilst acknowledging the specialised interests
of bionet.agroforestry and bionet.arabidopsis.
Tony
--
Tony Travis <ajt at uk.ac.sari.rri> | Dr. A.J.Travis
| Rowett Research Institute,
| Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen,
| AB2 9SB. UK. tel 0224-712751
