I think that, while forwarding TELUSA postings to scit will no doubt add to the
substance of scit, it also has the potential of creating some bad feelings
due to the exclusive, invitation-only nature of Telusa.
I wouldn't like to see scit and Telusa become isomorphic--I find that the
relative intimacy of Telusa encourages learning and risk-taking in a way
a public forum like scit does not. Also, there is something more immediate
about email, compared with deliberately going over to usenet to read scit; in
the latter case, I always have the guilty feeling that I am about to
waste time, and possibly get embroiled in a pointless flame war, while in
the former case, I get high-quality, interesting stuff brought directly
to my attention in my mailbox.
If the goal is to improve scit, right now I feel that it should be handled
separately from Telusa. If we try to kill two birds with one stone, we might
run the risk of merely maiming them both. I admit that I am prejudiced
against the idea of moderating scit or starting an scit.moderated. Even
if scit.moderated comes to pass, where will it be in relation to Telusa?
Will Telusa get merged with scit.moderated? If so, can we retain all the
benefits of Telusa in scit.moderated? If it is not to be merged, then we
are back to square one, with the problems associated with sharing the
discussion taking place on an exclusive forum with the readers of a
public forum.
So, right now, I don't see a better solution than to spend some (more) time
contributing to the betterment of scit. I for one would feel constrained
knowing that what I write on Telusa will also appear on a public forum.
Such dissemination would be only or two steps removed from publishing
private email on usenet, which, as everyone knows is taboo and for good
reason. It makes more sense for the authors of specific Telusa
articles to post (possibly modified) versions of those on scit for
separate discussion.
Bapa Rao