Attention AOL users

[Alex Kowalski]

Brett (and others) wrote:

On Mar 3, 2006, at 2:12 PM, LL - NY wrote:

> I have G-mail invites availible if anyone wants to got the Gmail
> route.

>Invites are no longer necessary; it's not in beta anymore, although
>an invite might let you skip out of providing your cell number.  All
>jokes about the "guv'mint trackin" aside, it always weirded me out
>that Gmail asks for your cell number to give you an account.

>Google's Gmail has its own problems.  Number one being the quick-
>reply function, which quotes the entire thread and top-posts.  I
>noticed a HUGE increase in the amount of both when gmail started
>getting very popular among listers.  We now pay for our bandwidth, so
>yeah...it's not trivial.

>Brett

I'm all for people knowing how to use the software they sign up to use, and
if you take a few basic precautions with GMail (and everyone should) I think
you'll find that there's a lot to recommend it that also won't get in the
hair of service providers like the Q-List.  Trim your posts and only reply
to the people you need to reply to, for one.

And Brett, although I resepect your opinions and authority, I could really
have done without the anti-corporate lefty rant and scaremongering.  Not
everyone who is a subscriber and contributor to this list shares your
political views, and you also made it seem through your tone as though AOL
users themselves were to blame for whatever policies AOL adopts that
Audifans finds untenable.  They're not.  Most of the people who are casual
computer users have been asking, begging for a way to diminish spam for a
long time now, and if you want to "blame" corporations for listening to them
in the only way they can think of, I think you're a little misguided.
Maybe you should back off a little, you could have phrased that a lot
differently without giving us all your opinion about whether evil
corporations or the goverment are more to blame for the restriction of
liberty in this country.  Although I will say that ISPs that ban servers on
their networks are not something to be admired.

Furthermore, you had no compunction about writing that anti-corporate screed
on the thinnest of evidence:  by your own admission, you don't know what
AOLs new rules will mean, precisely, for Audifans.  So why don't you find
that out precisely, first, before you start blaming the corporate world for
all your woes?

And to others here on the list, I also have GMail invites available (lots of
'em) and if you take Brett's concerns to heart I think there's a very good
case for using them.  I love my GMail, I'm just careful about what I do
before I press SEND.