From: Shawn I McMurdo <shawnm@sco.COM>
Subject: Re: Online Citation Formats (Was Re: Postings on sci.virtual-worlds
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 91 18:07:04 PDT
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.



  _ smoliar@iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar)
 /  excites these spin 1/2 particles:
 | 
 | In article <1991Aug9.234829.23689@milton.u.washington.edu>
 | Carrie.Heeter@ibm.cl.msu.edu (Carrie Heeter) writes:
 | >
 | >What is the preferred citation of an online posting?
 | >
 | I guess I might as well take my stand on this one.  I view bulletin boards 
 | as basically an extended form of electronic mail (which sort of reflects the
 | attitude of my operating system).  Similarly, I view electronic mail as the
 | same of conventional mail--just delivered through a different medium.  If 
 | one of my colleagues sends me a letter with an idea I wish to cite in a 
 | paper,
 | I simply give his name and list it as a "personal communication."  Quite
 | honestly, I do not think bulletin boards deserve any more specific treatment
 | since it is unclear how many readers would be able to track down any sort of
 | specific reference (particularly considering the rate at which these 
 | articles are garbage collected).
 \_

I think this is fairly reasonable for messages posted on a bulletin board,
but I feel that references to postings on the net should include the
newsgroup name.  Many newsgroups are archived and it seems like a good
idea to allow people with net access, and those with other means of accessing
these archives, a chance to see the original text that you are referencing.

Shawn

-- 
 _ _ _  Shawn I McMurdo  _ _ _  shawnm@sco.com  _ _ _  uunet!sco!shawnm  _ _ _