On Thu, Mar 11, 1999 at 08:32:01AM -0500, Tom Neff wrote:
> Unfortunately, it's been my experience over the years that just as some
> users cannot change their mail agent, some administrators cannot grasp or
> agree with this egalitarian principle, and will always give you the "well,
> the idiots should get a real mailer [as defined this month] or they don't
> deserve my list" argument.
Given that the cost of the necessary computing hardware and software
has dropped to an amazingly low level, I see nothing wrong with insisting
that subscribers avail themselves of suitable resources to serve their
own needs. It is most emphatically *not* the responsibility of the
list admin to do this for them, or to go to great lengths to accomodate
them if they choose not to. The responsibility of the list admin is to
provide a service that matches the description of the service, to do so
in as standards-compliant a manner as possible, and to attend to issues
such as resource consumption/abuse/etc. in a timely manner.
There is nothing un-egalitarian about this: there is, however, I think
something vaguely Orwellian and insidious about penalizing the clueful and
suitably-equipped subscribers in order to provide for the needs of the
selfish few who insist on using inadequate tools to handle their mail.
(Vonnegut's Handicapper General comes to mind as well.) I would hazard
the guess that most of those who are stuck with obsolete/broken tools such
as All-In-1 and Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange at work could choose
to pay for Internet access at home and thus avoid the problem entirely.
I suppose in part this comes down to a philosophical issue: there
are people who are ready, willing and able to accomodate problem users.
This is exceedingly generous of them, and I salute both their good
intentions and their efforts. However, this does not create a sense
of obligation in me: while I have a great deal of compassion for those
who are less fortunate and cannot help their personal situation,
I have little for those who are able to help themselves, but choose
not to and expect (or even demand!) that I do it for them.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
