On 7 Dec 2005 at 7:15, Owain Sutton wrote: > David W. Fenton wrote: > > On 6 Dec 2005 at 23:36, Owain Sutton wrote: > > > >>David W. Fenton wrote: > >> > >>>On 6 Dec 2005 at 17:28, Owain Sutton wrote: > >>> > >>>>David W. Fenton wrote; > >>>> > >>>>>(can't imagine why the Royal Mail > >>>>>requires it -- makes no sense at all). > >>>> > >>>>Because you only get so many free searches each day - there's a > >>>>subscription service which allows unlimited searches. > >>> > >>>Is the Royal Mail not a government service? That is, shouldn't it > >>>be free? > >> > >>It's not a 'government service', but a public limited company whose > >>majority owner is the British Government. > > > > It's called the "Royal Mail" and it's not considered a government > > service? > > Should I ask the RAC for a refund on my car insurance?
Well, looking up a postal code benefits the Royal Mail, so it ought to be free. It is free, up to a point, but there is an unnecessary registration required, ostensibly so that they can charge for extended services. There is nothing wrong with public institutions charging for extended services. > >>And in any case, there's plenty of "government services", from > >>passports to self-service photocopies in libraries, that aren't > >>free. > > > > > > My point is not actually about having to pay. It's reasonable that > > for a certain volume of requests you'd be required to pay beyond > > that point. > > > > However, many free resources limit the number of times you can use > > them in a day, and they don't require a logon. All they do is count > > the number of requests from a particular IP address. I can tick off > > a half dozen such sites. You can certainly pay for unlimited > > service. > > > > But I see no reason why you should have to set up an account and > > logon to look up one single postal code. That is completely > > senseless, and is completely orthogonal to the question of whether > > one should or should not pay for volume services. > > OK, in that case, the answer to your question is "because it's not a > very well-designed website". I strongly doubt that the policy of requiring a logon was put in place by the designer of the website. It's quite clearly a management directive, one that is ridiculous, and makes it less likely that people will avail themselves of the free service it provides. And I can't help but read into the logon requirement the idea that this is precisely what they intended. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
