alt.diseases.emerging?

[Chad Irby]

With the recent "invasion of sci.bio" discussion, I've noticed a certain
testiness by some of the long-term residents of this group/list.

I've been here for a while, soaking up some of the miscellaneous info that
pours forth on a regular basis.  Sci.bio is one of the best places to get
information on things like Ebola and the other "scary critters" in the
world, as well as some others (the Borna thread is rather interesting, for
example). 

Comment has been made about the "amateurs" who pop up and ask silly
questions, and there are some reasonable points there (always read the FAQ
before posting, for one, and don't ask basic questions on a "technical"
group).  However, some of the worst (i.e., *wrong*) answers have been from
people with the required training, and some of the best posts have been
from people who have honestly tried to relate some facts about the current
outbreak of an interesting disease.

I do believe that there should be a specific place where people can go to
discuss emerging diseases (*not* sci.bio- it's too general in scope). 
Ideally, the new group would contain discussion on viral and non-viral
diseases, and would let the technically-minded folks coexist with the
laymen.  I wouldn't want to restrict it to "only the bugs," either, since
a lot of the interesting things about the emerging diseases are tied up in
ecology and social concerns.

Well, I don't know if I've made a good case for this or not.  Ideas?

Should we try for a quick fix like alt.diseases.emerging, or try for a
full-out sci.bio.diseases.emerging?  Or just forget the whole thing?


(I posted a copy of this in sci.bio, with followups set there.)
-- 
cirby at magicnet.net
I gave up on the fantasy and am looking
for a really good reality...