ADMIN: No changes to Usenet

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Gang,
The votes _FOR_ keeping the Usenet echo are overwhelming.
In addition to the individuals who rely on Usenet for a
variety of reasons, a couple of other good points weighed
heavily in favor of keeping the echo.

A sample:
>I do use Usenet to read techwr-l occasionally and find it very handy,
>more so than the Web archives. I also wanted to point out that unless
>it is the *only* group someone responds to on Usenet, they're still
>going to have a problem with spam.

And another:
>About address culling by junk mailers, I get a few pieces but nothing out
>of hand. Dropping the techwr-l Usenet echo would eliminate one possible
>source of address culling for list members, but how many other sources
>would still be intact? Would all members be willing to swear off using all
>Usenet groups?

To give an additional example, a reader was complaining of
spam and said that they thought that TECHWR-L was the only
possible source. A Web search and Usenet search on AltaVista
turned up several other avenues from which their address could
have been culled.

Thus, although there's a distinct possibility that spammers
harvest addresses from the Usenet echo, the benefits of
keeping it far outweigh the risks. I suppose that, if you
currently get NO spam, there might be a benefit to not
posting so your address couldn't be harvested. However, if
you've ever posted anything anywhere, the damage is likely
done.

Please don't respond online--ask me personally if you have
questions.

Thanks!
Eric



**************************************************
Eric J. Ray                      ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner         http://www.raycomm.com/

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