Conference unifix::sailing

Now that keywords and directories_by_keyword have been available for 
about two months, do you, SAILING readers, think that they are 
worthwhile?

About half of the new base notes written in the last two months have 
been entered without a keyword. My thanks and appreciation to those of
you who have added a keyword. I have been sending mail to negligent
authors requesting that he/she add keyword(s). Sometime multiple
requests have been necessary. This is time consuming and annoying. It is
also time consuming and annoying for me to add keywords. So ....... 

I have four proposals:

One: That I ignore basenotes without keywords. This will eventually
greatly reduce the usefulness of keywords and directories_by_keyword. 

Two: That I write-lock basenotes entered without keywords and notify the 
author why this has been done. This could be done automatically with a 
small enhancement to existing DCL procedures I use to monitor file 
activity. Of course, I would then have to manually unlock the note after 
the keyword(s) have been added.

Three: That I delete basenotes entered without keywords after sending 
them back to the author. This could also be done automatically. Now the 
author would be the only person who would have to do anything.

Four: That someone else assume responsibility for monitoring the use of 
keywords.

I favor proposal three. After all, we're all adults and should accept
responsibility for our actions or inactions. Neither I or someone else
should have to do what should be done by basenote authors. 

Any comments? 

Curmudgeon (aka the Moderator)

    My only concern with deleting basenotes is that is discourages use of
    this notesfile by the new or casual user.  Is there a way to
    automatically put any basenote without a keyword into some "general"
    basenote?  We don't want to cause you any extra labor, Alan, and
    we don't want to be "elitists."  Hmmm, maybe we could take The Cup
    approach and have the courts decide.
    

    Is there anyway to have the WRITE procedure prompt for a keyword,
    along with the ability to do an index of current ones?  Sort of
    the way it prompts for a title now.
    
    Relatively new notes user....
    
    Bob
    

re .2:

All notes without at least one keyword are listed in Note 3.last. When I 
first ran the directory_by_keyword procedures, Note 3.last listed almost 
every note in SAILING. 

Since the SAILING announcement asks all participants to read Note 2 and 
since Note 2 explains how to add a keyword, anyone knowledgeable enough
to write a basenote should be able to add a keyword or two. I certainly
don't want to discourage participation in SAILING, but at the same time
I would like to encourage responsible participation. If the readers and
writers don't find keywords useful, then this discussion is moot.
However, I find I use Note 3 rather frequently. I would hope that new
users would find it invaluable and a great timesaver. 

re .3:

I don't know of any way of having NOTES prompt a basenote (or reply) 
writer for a keyword. Titles are prompted, but blank titles are allowed 
(which caused me much grief one evening when the directory_by_keyword 
procedures failed in a very unnice way).     

    Alan,
        I would favour option 3 as the least of all evils. It is not
    unreasonable on a conference as large as this to ask contributors
    to play by some simple rules. Since you set up the keywords it has
    been far easier to find topics and has I suspect stopped the note
    requesting infomation / a view on ......
    
    
    Keep up the good work.
    
    
    cheers.......Pete
     

    
    Alan,
    
       The keywords are a great help, there's no going back now!  I
    favor option 3, deleting & sending back to the author, but this
    may cause confusion if replies have already been made to the base
    note.  
    
       /Jim
    

        I find the keyword listings a big help. I have even learned a
        thing or two just scanning the lists. 

        I also vote YES for Option #3.
        
        I like Adam have concern for the new kids on the block. The
        support and welcome received from fellow noters means a lot to
        me. I would hope that any 'auto' mail back would also contain the
        encouragement to resubmit with keyword(s) and repeat the pointer
        to note 2 and the 'how to'. 
        
        I would be glad to be on a list of sailors willing to help new
        noters with the use of key words. 
        
        Fred "WIND SONG"  223-3935                 

    I was going to put a note in about the Gloucester Folklife Festival
    tomorrow because I thought people here might appreciate some of the
    nautical exhibits such as caulking, shipmodels, etc., but I couldn't
    find a suitable KEYWORD.    |-(
    
    Let me know when you get around to following the lead of the HOME_WORK
    and EATS files that forbid any negative comments, like "Gee, I sailed
    there and the wind was lousy".  Then we can delete this conference and
    head for the open sea.
    

Lately very few base note authors have been adding keywords to their 
notes. I no longer have the time nor the inclination to add keywords to 
base notes entered without them. 

After thinking about how to handle this, I have decided to do the
following. A regularly scheduled batch job will look at all new notes in
SAILING. If the new note is a base note, the procedure will look for
keywords. If none are found, the note will be set nowrite (ie, no
additional replies will be allowed) and a mail message (see below) will
be sent to the author of the base note. It will be the responsibility of
the author to add one or more keywords and to reenable replies to the
note. This has the somewhat unfortunate side effect that someone
attempting to reply to a note may receive the error message 'No
priviledge to reply to this note (set nowrite)'. I think that this
process will ensure that keywords are used in SAILING and will not
require any additional effort by anyone except the authors of base
notes. 


The Moderator

================================================================================

Dear SAILING Contributor,

It is the policy of SAILING that the author of a base note is
responsible for adding the appropriate keyword(s) to his or her note.
Please see Notes 2 and 6.9. When you entered your note (appended
below), you did not add any keywords. 

Your note has been set NOWRITE, ie, no further replies are allowed.
Please add one or more appropriate keywords to your note. Note 2
explains how to do this. Note 3.1 lists the available keywords. Once you
have added at least one keyword to your note, use the command SET NOTE
note_number/WRITE to reenable replies to your note. If you do not do
this within 30 days, your note may be deleted. 

Thank you for your cooperation.

SAILING Moderator

Another reason for basenoters to add a keyword:

Like most readers, I use the NEXT UNSEEN keypad feature, and reply when a 
topic strikes my fancy.  As happened a couple minutes ago, if I try to
reply to a query for info and am unable to enter a reply (due to no
keyword) even adding a keyword later won't bring it back to my attention. 

Base note questions without keywords may never get answers.

J.

Digital's computers and computer networks are Digital's property and are 
for use by Digital employees only. From time to time, FOR SALE or other 
ads (eg, a recent ad looking for someone to share expenses) are entered 
in SAILING on the behalf of individuals not employed by Digital. After 
reviewing the Digital Personnel Policies and Procedures manual and the 
policies in other Notes Conferences, I have tentatively concluded that 
such FOR SALE and other notes are in violation of Digital company 
policy and should not be posted in SAILING.

Therefore, unless cogent and persuasive arguments to the contrary are
presented in further replies to this note, I will institute a policy of
deleting any such notes after mailing them to the author with an
explanation of why the note has been deleted. In the meanwhile, the most
obviously offending notes have been set hidden. 

The Moderator

    I have commented on this to Alan B., the moderator, and will now
    comment to the community:
    
    <flame on simmer>
    
    It is my opinion that the keyword policy in this conference is
    arbitrary and overly restrictive.  
    
    a) users cannot create keywords
    b) the moderator's enforcement batch jobs effectively block
       comunications.
    
    I am rather a big fan of keywords, but I also work for a living.  Being
    physically remote from the greater Maynard area, the response time of
    this conference verges on the abominable.  So let's say I have a
    question as in topic 1610.  I have a moment before a meeting and put in
    my query, but do not have the time to NOTES> show keywords
    (wait...wait...wait...etc.) then add keyword.  Neither can I simply add
    what I think to be a reasonable keyword without the lookup.
    
    The result?  I can't ask a simple question and get a reasonable answer
    without investing an inordinate ammount of time.
    
    <flame off>
    
    can't this be improved somehow?

Yet another problem with the keyword policy is that Xnotes has no keyword
support.  So, I can't even add a keyword to a basenote (or create it with
a keyword in the first place).

Dick

re .12:

Network response time is not within the control of the moderators of any 
notes conference. 

The list of keywords has had only a very few additions since it was 
created many months ago. The list can be read on a terminal with 

    SHOW KEYWORDS

If you want a hardcopy or local list, just mail yourself Note 3.1, which 
is always the current keyword list. Then you won't have to depend on 
network access time to see the list when you enter a new base note.
The batch job that requires the author of base note to add a keyword 
runs every half hour. That is the only enforcement job. I have found 
that as many as half of the authors forget to set the note /write, so I 
do it rather than let the note stay /nowrite.

Yes, users cannot create keywords, for a simple and important reason.
Almost every keyword in the current keyword list could be expanded into
many keywords. It would rapidly become much more difficult to search for
and find information. Say you're looking for a new boat. Would you
rather just look at one keyword (say BOAT_REVIEWS) or have to search for
Pearson 26, Pearson 30, Hunter 30, Hunter 32, Vision 32, Cape_Dory, 
Catalina 22, Catalina 30, Catalina 34, Catalina 36, etc? If network
access speed is a problem I would think that minimal keyword searching
would be better. Just reviewing the directories_by_keywords (Notes 3.N)
is bad enough with the current number of keywords. What if there were
several times as many keywords? 

re .13:

I guess I'm ignorant. What's Xnotes?

I concur as well with keyword policy critique.

I am not sure I know what xnotes are but I suspect it is similar to AVN 
(Automated VaxNotes - there is a Notesfile for AVN if anyone is 
interested).  AVN has no keyword capability either.

Carl

    Well, ...   I LIKE the keyword policy.  Finding information in SAILING
    is orders of magnitude better now that every note has a keyword.  It
    would be a real step backwards to permit notes without them again.  I
    also think the policy of not having too many keywords is sound.  The
    obvious limiting case where every note has its own keyword(s) isn't too
    much better than no keywords.
    
    On the other hand, we might be able to improve things a tiny bit.  For
    example, those people who use NOTES clients (like AVN) which do not
    support the ADD KEYWORD function should first of all scream like crazy
    to the developers of that client.  In the meantime, I'm confident that
    there is at least one DCL hacker out there who could contribute a DCL
    procedure to add the keyword in batch mode and then set the note to
    write (in case Alan's enforcer procedure pounced in the interim.)
    
    With respect to the complaint that there isn't an appropriate keyword,
    I'm empathetic, but not sympathetic.  I had to use "miscellaneous" for
    my recent note on sewing machines.  I never have been able to find all
    the notes on "tools" for lack of an appropriate keyword.  On the other
    hand, the effort the author must put in to choose an appropriate set of
    keywords is exactly what makes SAILING so useful now to all the
    participants; we all benefit from this effort.  I would recommend that
    our moderator strongly resist adding new keywords, because to make that
    keyword truly useful, we would have to go back through ALL the notes
    to add it to notes for which it was an appropriate keyword.  (Take my
    example "tools".  Adding that keyword now, still would not help me find
    all the notes which discussed a tool or a set of tools unless some kind
    soul(s) added "tools" to the keyword list of relevant notes.)
    
    What we could do is start a note for keyword difficulties.  This would
    not only be a forum for possible additions to the keyword list, but it
    would also be a place where the philosophy of the list gets discussed. 
    For example, I'm confused about "tools".  If I want to enter a note on
    "What's an appropriate set of tools to carry day sailing?" for example,
    what would the readership (and the moderator) recommend for keywords? 
    Also, and as another example, I could get help on how to find all notes
    on a topic such as "tools".
    
    Finally, my thanks to all who struggle to add appropriate keywords to
    their notes.
    
    -gayn
    

    I have missed the Keywords for a couple of notes that I have put in
    and, have had to be reminded by Alan.  It feels kind of dumb to get hit
    on like that but I do not know an alternative.
    
    Obviously Keywords are very important and without them things would
    rapidly get disorganized - further, without Alan's Iron policy, there
    would be few keywords or a plethora of keywords (just as bad (I assume
    that plethora means what I think does)).  It is sort of like my
    mainsheet arrangement, I dont like it but whats the alternative ? 
    Certainly though if there was a way that the system would prevent a
    note from being added without a keyword, we would be in much better
    shape.  Finally, I also agree that the existing list is a little
    restricted ....  MISC is awfully easy to use ....  
    

xnotes is the ULTRIX notes client for DECwindows.  It is missing some NON-
CRITICAL functionality because the perSson who develped/supports it has
a real job  8^{).

Dick

I am not adverse to adding a few more keywords -- I've already added a 
few at the request of contributors. Perhaps expanding or clarifying 
existing keywords might help, too. Would you look for sewing machines 
under SAILS? How about under SAILS_AND_CANVAS? The question about what 
tools to carry when voyaging might fit under CRUISING, BOAT_REPAIRS, 
and/or SAFETY. There is no why reason a note can't have several keywords. 

Any suggestions for needed keywords? If anyone entering a base note is 
unsure what keyword to use or would like one created, just ask me.

Alan

    Every time I want to write a note, I have to relearn how to use
    keywords. For a non-techie, it's difficult. None of the other
    notesfiles I use need them, and therefore I can never remember long
    enough how to do it. HELP is a waste of time, it's so cryptic and never
    tells you HOW to do it.
    
    Ray

    If the following list is substituted for note 3.1, it would make it
    easier to go directly to the reply that has notes with a given keyword. 
    One would simply type ".n" where n is the reply indicated with the
    keyword of choice.
    
    
 reply #/KEYWORD
    
.1  ANCHORING
.2  BOAT_BUILDING
.3  BOAT_BUYING
.4  BOAT_DESIGN
.5  BOAT_MAINTENANCE
.6  BOAT_MODIFICATIONS
.7  BOAT_REPAIRS
.8  BOAT_REVIEWS
.9  BOAT_SHOWS
.10 CHARTERING
.11 CLOTHING
.12 CLUBS
.13 COMMUNICATIONS
.14 CREW_WANTED
.15 CRUISING
.16 DINGHIES
.17 ELECTRICAL_SYSTEMS
.18 ELECTRONICS
.19 ENGINES
.20 EQUIPMENT
.21 HISTORY
.22 ICEBOATS
.23 INSURANCE
.24 LAWS
.25 LEARNING_TO_SAIL
.26 MARINAS
.27 MEDICAL
.28 MISCELLANEOUS
.29 MOORINGS
.30 MULTIHULLS
.31 NAVIGATION
.32 PEOPLE
.33 PUBLICATIONS
.34 RACING
.35 RIGGING
.36 SAFETY
.37 SAILS
.38 SEAMANSHIP
.39 SELF_STEERING
.40 STORAGE
.41 SUPPLIERS
.42 TAXES
.43 TOWING
.44 WANTED
.45 WATER_SYSTEMS
.46 WEATHER
.47 WINDSURFING
.48 WOODEN_BOATS

re .20:

The following command adds a keyword to a note:

   ADD KEYWORD keyword note_number

(See also Note 2.0). For example,

   ADD KEYWORD SAFETY 254


re .21:

Excellent suggestion! Since the keyword list may change from time to time,
I'll modify the batch procedures that create the directories_by_keyword 
to implement this. 

re .21
I think the idea is great!  Please increment all numbers by 1.  The list 
of keywords is 3.1 so anchoring is 3.2 ect.

Keep the keywords!  Without them it is like trying to find what you want 
in a DEC mannual without an index.

Al

    Adam,
        Perhaps another way might be to say that you recently bought a
    "Wooshie" and are now going to invest in another furler........If
    people then happen to ring you to find out why one purchase follwed
    another quite so quickly you can tell them and still stay within
    policy......?
    
    Pete

Moved by moderator as Note 2.x is for SAILING policies and Note 6.x is 
for discussing those policies. This note is in response to Note 2.7.

================================================================================
           <<< MSCSSE::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SAILING.NOTE;2 >>>
                                  -< SAILING >-
================================================================================
Note 2.8                    SAILING use and policies                      8 of 9
AIADM::COUTURE "Abandon shore"                       12 lines  23-OCT-1990 09:27
                        -< Splain this to me, Mr. Mod >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Okay, Mr. Moderator, what exactly does Mr. Glover mean?
    
    Supose I bought a "Wooshie" self furler that seems to disolve in water. 
    I take it back to "Barfo Marine Supply" and they tell me where to put
    my self furler.  So I post a note warning of "Wooshie" and "Barfo".  
    Are you going to delete the note because of the corporate policy?
    Does this mean if I can't say something nice I should keep it under my
    hat?
    
    Curiously yours,
    
    Adam 

re 6.24:

The corporate policy in Note 2.7 refers to negative, derogatory, etc 
remarks about individuals and businesses. It also asks that you use 
discretion. 

My preliminary intrepretation is that you can comment about the
performance, reliability, quality, etc, of a product. (It is acceptable 
to say that the product failed after one month of use, for example.) You 
should refrain from any non-factual statements. (Saying that the dealer 
is an incompetent fool would not be acceptable.) Like all policies, it 
is not all all clear what is and is not permissible.

re 2.8:

Perhaps you'd be so kind as to provide a note number in MODERATORS. I 
don't have time to rummage through it looking for the discussion.

    As a co-moderator in two other Notes conferences, I have had recent
    discussion with my fellow moderators in both concerning the Ron Glover
    memo.  We have come up with the following guidelines.  Take them for
    what they're worth ... I am not a moderator in this conference, and as
    far as I'm concerned, Alan has the right to set his own guidelines.
    
    1.  It is permissible to discuss events which occur between noters and
        third party vendors, both positive and negative, as long as the
        discussion sticks to facts and events.
    
    2.  It is not permissible to make negative judgemental statements about
        a person's character, based on events.
    
    3.  It is not permissible to suggest that conference readers should not
        use a particular vendor because you had a negative experience with
        them.
    
    4.  It is not permissible to place negative interpretations on the
        actions of third party vendors, or the outcome of your business
        transactions with them.
    
    In simple terms ... stick to the facts and refrain from interpretations
    and judgements and you're OK.  And don't make statements like "you
    should never buy "this-n-such" or "I'd recommend you stay away from
    Moe's Marine Outlet".
    
    As has been mentioned in Note 2.8, Ron Glover's memo is NOT company
    policy ... but it does make good sense if we want to keep our Notes
    files active and healthy.
    
    ... Bob
    

re .28:

Thank you, Bob. Your interpretations are quite similar to mine. I 
appreciate your including them here. I certainly do not wish to receive 
any phone calls from upper management concerning anything said in SAILING. 
Your guidelines should help avoid the shoals of disaster. 

Alan

PS Two of the more delightful names on one of my Nova Scotia charts are 
are Little Hope Rock and Lesser Hope Shoal.

    
    ...and it is a lousy idea, IMHO.  So now we're not supposed to comment
    on a lousy piece of equipment or bad service or high prices, just 
    because the business owner doesn't have access to NOTES?
    
    I say 'too bad' for the business owner, and too bad for that gent in
    personnel.  I don't accept everything written here as fact, and there
    is no evidence to my knowledge of people misusing SAILING to unfairly
    damage anyone's reputation.  
    
    If anyone wants to read reports which list only the favorable
    points of any product or business, there are plenty of magazines
    on the rack which do exactly that.  I'd rather hear what people
    believe to be the whole truth and make my own decisions.
    
       /Jim
    

    Easy Jim!!
    
    What I read was that we COULD 'bad mouth' a "lousy" piece of equipment
    as long as we remember Dragnet and STICK TO THE FACTS. 
    
    What I read was; that if I had purchased a Tonka Toy 4.4HP outboard, I
    would not be creating any problem if I reported that I was unhappy with
    it because even though it started on the first pull, the exposed shift
    linkage and several other external parts were badly rusted after only
    one season. (name and model changed for discussion sake)
    
    Alan, is there enough water under my keel?
    
    Fred

The previous couple (except for Jim's  8^{) go along with what seems to be
the "standard" interpretation of the memo and P&P.

Jim,

The big problem with "unrestricted" criticisms is that they frequently get
shown to their target.  Many of the vendors whose products or services are
criticised have friends at DEC who are willing to print comments from NOTES
for them.  There seems to be legal basis for the notion that if DEC let's
you make comments in a NOTES conference, then the company tacitly supports
your opinions.  This can be grounds for legal action that DEC (right or
wrong) really doesn't want to get involved in.  Thus the policy and the
memo.

Alan,

Sorry, don't know the exact note.  If you go into MODERATORS and SET SEEN
before 20-oct and do NEXT UNSEEN, that discussion should come up very quickly.

Dick

    I'm no lower deck lawyer, however a couple of things spring to mind:
    
    1. I have not seen anyhting in any conference that I look at that I
    believe to be undue criticism or going over the boundary.
    
    2. The opinions that are placed here are those of the individuals
    ...not our employer.  In fact in a sense in imposing some controls,
    isn't Digital assuming more responsibility for what is said than simply
    saying "These are the opions/comments of our highly respected workforce
    (!) and we don't have any ownership of their thoughts".
    
    3. Could we expect a letter from the telephone company saying please do
    not make any dispariging comments about others on the phone as we may
    have to assume liability ?  The Post Office ?
    
    4. The message and the medium are being confused (with credit to MM).
    
    And then in contradiction to all of the above, everyone always carries
    with them the risk that their own actions will affect business
    relationships with their employer.

    
    Aren't we fortunate to be able to express our _opinions_ on this
    matter?  Wouldn't it be a shame if these were censored, too?
    
    Fact and opinion are usually easy to tell apart, but not always.
    I'd be willing to label opinions which could be confused as facts
    with "Opinion: " if necessary, but I think SAILING would become
    sterile and less useful if the (pseudo)policy was enforced too
    vigorously.
    
       /Jim
    

    Alan,
    
    I'd like to make a suggestion for your base note 2.0.
    
    In this note you discuss how people are to add base notes and keywords
    but you don't mention how they can turn on their base note to accept
    replies. Would you please add this to the note? If there is a way that
    respondees can turn on a note to respond to it, please put that in as
    well. This was prompted by me trying to reply to note 1626 and finding
    it write locked.
    
    Thanks for your help,
    
    Robert

re .35

Note 2.4 explains how to set a note to write enable.

re .35:

The batch job that checks for newly written notes that do not have any 
keywords does two things when it finds such a note:

  1. It write locks the note.

  2. It sends the mail message below to the note's author (and to me). 
     This mail includes the command for setting a note back to write. 
     In spite of this, many authors do not do so. Sigh. When I have 
     time, I reset notes to which a keyword has been added to write.

================================================================================

Dear SAILING Contributor,

It is the policy of SAILING that the author of a base note is
responsible for adding the appropriate keyword(s) to his or her note.
Please see Notes 2 and 6.9. When you entered your note (appended
below), you did not add any keywords. 

Your note has been set NOWRITE, ie, no further replies are allowed.
Please add one or more appropriate keywords to your note. Note 2
explains how to do this. Note 3.1 lists the available keywords. Once you
have added at least one keyword to your note, you must use the command
SET NOTE note_number/WRITE to reenable replies to your note. Unless you 
do this, replies to your note will not be allowed. 

If you do not do this within 30 days, your note may be deleted. 

Thank you for your cooperation.

SAILING Moderator

    Alan,
    
    You obviously have it all under control! I remember reading that things
    get write locked; it obviously slipped my mind. 
    
    Thanks,
    Robert

    Ok, Now that I've been nice enough to add keywords to the note I was
    trying to answer and then executed the command listed in .4, it tells
    me that I don't have the privileges to execute the command to clear the
    write lock. Will I need to wait 24 hrs or am I still being stupid?
    Robert

Only the author and the moderators can change the write protection on a
note.  In addition, the author must do so from the same node (unless
cluster alias is turned on, in which case the same cluster) as the note
was written from.

Dick

Hello,

Sometime between approximately 0100 GMT 1 February 1992 and 1300 GMT 
3 February 1992 the SAILING notesconference was slightly corrupted. At
least five replies have been lost as a result (two to note 1828 and
three to note 1823). Possibly one more was lost, but I have been unable
to identify it. 

So far as we (the MSCSSE system manager and I) can determine, the 
corruption has been fixed. We don't know why it happened, but MSCSSE has 
been having some disk corruption problems lately. 

SAILING is now set /write again.

Sorry for the inconvenience,

the Moderator

The SAILING notes conference was severely corrupted by a major disk
failure a few days ago (which is why the conference has been unavailable). 
As a result of an unfortunate series of events, the most recent backup 
copy is from mid-May. The backup copy, too, is slightly corrupted. 

Initial repairs have been completed, and the conference is now more or 
less as it was in mid-May. I was able to extract about 360 notes and 
replies from the badly damaged file, but some notes and replies are
permanently lost (I have no idea how many). It will likely take me some
time to reenter the salvaged notes and replies. Doing this may require
moving some replies. 

Finally, our system backup procedures have been revised, and regular 
backups of the disk on which SAILING resides will now be done.

My apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

The Moderator

In case you haven't heard, upper management is, according to a memo by 
Win Hindle, seriously considering banning non-business notesfile such as 
SAILING. (If you haven't seen the memo and would like a copy, send me 
mail.)

Comments about this proposed policy should be sent to Ron Glover (and 
it wouldn't hurt to copy Win Hindle as well). 

Alan

 Digital - Employee interest notes files to continue
	{Livewire, Worldwide News, 20-Aug-93}
   Digital's Senior Leadership Team decided to maintain employee interest notes
 files at a recent SLT meeting, according to Win Hindle, vice president, Office
 of Quality, Ethics and Business Practices.  The costs of maintaining these
 notes files had been under discussion. 
   The SLT considered numerous comments from employees and reviewed cost and
 usage information before making the decision.  The team also decided to
 conduct a review of current standards, guidelines and policies associated with
 the use of employee interest notes files.  
   Meanwhile, all employees are requested to follow existing guidelines and
 policies for proper use of the network, as stated in Personnel Policy 6.54,
 "Proper Use of Digital Computers, Systems and Networks."  
   This worldwide policy states, "Information, and the ability to communicate
 it, are valuable assets that play a significant role in Digital's success.
 The protection and appropriate use of these assets is everyone's
 responsibility."
   Digital's network is a powerful business tool, and employees are encouraged
 to use it with sensitivity to managing Digital's communications costs and in
 accordance with the company's philosophy and values.  

    Having been absent from sailing for several years and expecting to
    return this next season, I decided to re-enter this conference.  Only
    trouble was I could not find it.  UNIFIX::Sailing is list nowhere. 
    Might it be nice to get new folks in by updating the main source at
    ANCHOR::
    
    /bob
    

re .last:

Done

Sailing is still listed at MSCSSE::SAILING in easynotes.lis:

clipr> sea anchor::net$library:easynotes.lis ::sail
Sailing                         MSCSSE::SAILING                              856

I don't know if anyone has taken over responsibility for maintaining that file.

--RS

Alan,

I would like to suggest the addition of some keywords.

There are a number of notes and replies which make reference to Loran and GPS.
Especially GPS may warrent its own keyword.  Another possibility is to lump
them together under Navigation-Radio (not my favorite).

My thought is that there are especially replies in various notes about Loran
and GPS.  It would be very handy if these had been give the Key workd Loran or 
GPS.  That was one could quickly scan through the notes and find the evelolving 
topic of the two.  The keyword Navigation comes reasonably close, however when
somebody is critiquing or selling a unit, the navigation keyword does not seem
to be used.

    I am thinking of purchasing a 1974 26' Paceship sailboat. It has a fixed
    fin keel, 6' headroom below, small cockpit, high cabin top to
    accommodate the 6' head room, tiller stearing, auciliary motor is
    outboard...
    
    I know very little about "Paceship" other than they are/were in Nova
    Scotia Canada. I am planning to have a survey done before I buy the
    boat. What I would like suggestions/info on are about the manufacturer,
    and this model, things like:
    
    Are they still in busness,
    Do they still make mid 20' sailboats,
    their reputation,
    the reputation of the 1974 26' models,
    other boats they build,
    quality of construction,
    known problems with their boats and this design,
    any clubs or organizations around the boat...
    experiences sailing and owning...
    
    Stuff like that...
    
    Thanks in advance
    Joe Vlcek
    DTN 226.5967
    HOME 508.562.0970
    LASSIE::VLCEK
    [email protected]
    

I sailed a couple smaller Paceship 14s in the mid '70s. My Mother worked at
a boyscout camp for five years where I would spend a great deal of time
sailing. I recall of the boats that we wern't allowed to capsize them as
the rudders blades were metal, heavy and the pintles were not secured. A
capsize would send the rudder to the bottom of the lake and get the
watefront staff rather upset with you. 
	Some of the things I remember of these two boats lead me to believe
they were fairly ruggedly built, but not performance oriented. The blades
were flat, metal plate, no foil shape that I recall. I also suspect they
were lightly canvased as I also remember being scolded for single handing
one of these boats on a very windy day. An instructor had been out earlier
in the day with only the main. If I, at 15, could hold this boat down alone
on a windy day, it must have been lightly canvased. 

	Granted this is a 14 and you're looking at a 26. But my distant
memory impression would lead me expect a heavy, lower performance boat, but
likely built to take a beating and fair well. I don't know for sure, but I
do remember thinking the boats were very rugged.

Maybe not very useful, but that's what I know of Paceships.
Geoff