Wirt Atmar  wrote or quoted P. Smith as writing:

> >What we need is some sort of central registry of evolutionary theories. 
> >While we're at it  another registry for theories of sex.
> 
> That "registry" already exists and has for several hundred
years. It's called
> the peer-reviewed literature. The first publication date of an idea is the one
> that assumes priority. It really doesn't matter where you publish your ideas.
> Mendel's work appeared in a little-read Swiss agricultural journal, but it was
> published. When his theories and genetical phenomena were independently
> rediscovered at the end of the century, and it was found that he had published
> the same work 40 years earlier, all credit was given to Mendel.
> 
> Similarly but obversely, if a theory is never published, it is given 
> little or no weight. Talk and usenet groups are cheap. They simply 
> don't count, although self-publishing sometimes does work. Charles 
> Darwin and Stephen Wolfram both chose to self-publish their own work, 
> but that creates, as it should, a much higher hurdle to clear for 
> general acceptance.

I'm not sure in what sense usenet "doesn't count".

I consider usenet a publishing medium - and a jolly good one - since
it is continuously publicly archived - anyone can access it free of
charge.
-- 
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