Subject: FAQ: sci.bio.* newsgroups

From: [email-masked] (Una Smith)
Date: 24 Mar 1995 06:01:23 GMT

I am frequently asked about the biology newsgroups in Usenet and their
associated mailing lists.  This is a brief pre-emptive FAQ.  ;-)

	Una Smith

________________________________________________________________________
			Overview of sci.bio.* 
========================================================================
As of March 1995, the sci.bio.* hierarchy contains these newsgroups:

	sci.bio				(no mailing list attached)
	sci.bio.conservation		(moderated, no mailing list)
	sci.bio.ecology			(mailing list is moderated)
	sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera
	sci.bio.ethology
	sci.bio.evolution		(moderated)
	sci.bio.herp
	sci.bio.microbiology		(new, no mailing list yet)
	sci.bio.paleontology		(new, no mailing list yet)
	sci.bio.technology

Newsgroups that have been proposed in news.announce.newgroups include:

	sci.bio.entomology.misc
	sci.bio.fisheries
	sci.bio.food-science

See news.groups for discussion of these proposals.

________________________________________________________________________
		Details about sci.bio.* newsgroups
========================================================================
* sci.bio -- By far the oldest, most widely read, and often most active
	newsgroup for discussion of biology, sci.bio has no mailing list
	attached, and no archive.  Discussions of all topics having to
	do with biology are welcome here.

* sci.bio.conservation -- Moderated by Preston Hardison,
	[email-masked], who also runs the CONSBIO mailing list.

* sci.bio.ecology -- This newsgroup is gated to ECOLOG-L, a mailing
        list of over 1700 subscribers.  ECOLOG-L is run by David Inouye,
	a specialist on pollination biology, via [email-masked].
	David Inouye "filters" the mailing list to catch mis-directed
	subscription requests and off-topic articles;  the newsgroup is
	not moderated.  Archived on the host site via LISTSERV, which
	supports full-text searches by e-mail.

* sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera -- Gated to the LEPS-L mailing list,
	run by Larry Gall, an entomologist and museum information
	systems administrator, via [email-masked] (an
	archive is expected on the host site).  It is a forum for
	discussion of all things lepidopterological (lepidoptera are
	butterflies and moths), among amateurs and professionals.

* sci.bio.ethology -- Gated to the ETHOLOGY mailing list, run by Jarmo
        Saarikko, an animal behaviorist, via [email-masked],
        for the discussion of animal behavior and behavioral ecology.
        This list has a strong European contingent.  Archived on the
	host site via LISTSERV.

* sci.bio.evolution -- Gated to the EVOLUTION mailing list, run by
        Josh Hayes, a marine biologist, via evolution-request@
        pogo.cqs.washington.edu.  To discourage the permanent debate
        about evolution vs creationism from moving from talk.origins
        into this newsgroup, Josh Hayes moderates it.  The newsgroup
        is archived on sunsite.unc.edu, in the Ecology and Evolution
        section, where it can be searched and read via gopher.

* sci.bio.herp -- Gated to the HERP-L mailing list, run by Michael
	Eisen, an herpetologist, via [email-masked].
	For discussion of the biology, ecology, evolution, biodiversity,
	and conservation of amphibians and reptiles.  Archived on the
	host site via LISTPROC.

* sci.bio.microbiology -- For discussion of all things having to do
	with microscopic organisms, including bacteria, yeasts, fungi,
	algae, and many more unfamiliar single-celled organisms.

* sci.bio.paleontology -- For discussion of ancient life on earth,
	on a professional level.  See talk.origins for the permanent
	home of the creation/evolution debate in Usenet.

* sci.bio.technology -- Gated to the BIOTECH mailing list, run by
        Dan Jacobs, via [email-masked].  BIOTECH is moderated,
        and has over 500 subscribers.  BIOTECH was one of the first
        mailing lists to have a gateway to the Usenet "mainstream".
	It is devoted to biotechnology and more applied biological
	research in general.  Archived on the host site via LISTSERV.

________________________________________________________________________
			How to subscribe
========================================================================
To subscribe to any of the mailing lists mentioned above, send e-mail to
the address given in the blurb, and include the text

	subscribe <listname> <Your Name>

For example, to subscribe to BIOTECH, the mailing list gated to
sci.bio.technology, send

	subscribe biotech Ima Biologist

to [email-masked].

________________________________________________________________________
			Some usage statistics
========================================================================
The estimated readership of some of these newsgroups is in the tens of
thousands, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of articles are
posted by Usenet readers rather than e-mail subscribers, but there are
thousands of subscribers, *and* the number of subscribers continues to
grow even though many former subscribers now participate via Usenet.
Here are some usage statistics, from an independent estimate known as
Brian Reid's "Arbitron" report, for January 1995 (see news.lists):

  +-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide.
  |     +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population
  |     |     +-- Propagation: how many sites receive this group at all
  |     |     |      +-- Recent traffic (messages per month)
  |     |     |      |      +-- Recent traffic (megabytes per month)
  |     |     |      |      |      +-- Crossposting percentage
  |     |     |      |      |      |
  V     V     V      V      V      V
86000   484   79%   655     0.6    39%  sci.bio 
53000   318   74%   168     0.2    32%  sci.bio.technology 
29000   222   58%   249     0.6     0%  sci.bio.evolution 
28000   197   62%   620     1.2     9%  sci.bio.ecology 
18000   135   58%    93     0.1     5%  sci.bio.ethology 
17000   131   58%   220     0.3     1%  sci.bio.herp 
 8200    77   47%   110     0.1     1%  sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera
 7800    76   45%   140     0.2     5%  sci.bio.microbiology 

Enough belly-button gazing!  I hope to see some interesting articles
by you in these newsgroups, but even if you never post a single note,
you're still welcome to "lurk" here.  But please, take care writing
your article:  check the spelling, be concise, and keep it on topic.

Thanks!

-- 
	Una Smith			[email-masked]

Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT  06520-8104  USA