Re: Re:Yahoo-Groups
Glenn Simmons wrote:
>
> On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 19:12:00 -0800 Vicki Craig <craigiris@ipns.com>
> writes:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am wondering what you are discussing. I changed my address book
> > to show iris- et al to yahoo as it came through to me, in my address
> > book. I thought I was getting all the messages and photos. Am I
> missing
> > something? I have not been asked to do anything. Certainly not to give
> > personal informaion.
> >
> > Vicki
> >
>
> I have gone to Yahoo Groups and re-registered just as I did for E-Groups.
> I have been reading the letters with all the negative comments about
> being required to give Yahoo Groups personal information and personally I
> do not see a problem with what they ask. I am normally completely
> against anything that I feel infringes upon my privacy but I did not
> object to the questions at Yahoo. Honestly the questions asked at Yahoo
> were basically the same questions asked by E-Groups if and when you
> registered with them and Yahoo, like E-Groups, does give the registering
> person the option of how much of the registering information is to be
> made public. The information asked by Yahoo is pretty much the same
> information asked by other web sites that require registration to use
> them.
>
> Am I missing something here?
>
> Glenn
>
> Glenn & Linda Simmons, Springfield, Missouri, Climate Zone 6 USA
>
> g*@juno.com
> g*@netscape.net
Yes, you are. When you go to a newsstand to buy a magazine, you are not
required to disclose any information whatsoever about yourself. Your
reading habits are not subject to a violation of your privacy. Some of
us are irritated by the intrusion. If the questionaire were strictly
voluntary, there would be no significant intrusion upon the reader's
right to privacy. This questionaire appears to be an involuntary
requirement for re-registration, if I understand correctly. Also, there
is the other matter of passwords to consider.
There is a significant amount of time and trouble involved for each
reader to maintain and troubleshoot problems with restricted access by
passwords. Such efforts may not be significant for users with only a few
such passwords, but there are those of us who must deal with passwords
and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) numbering in the dozens to
hundreds. The last thing we need is yet another service which has a
password that needs to be maintained and fixed on occasion.
Take the current situation for an example. My subscription has never
been converted to a password account. Like now, the ability to read and
post is unchanged without the password association. However, any other
activity to subscribe, unsubscribe, and so forth require the latest
registration, password, and involuntary questionaire. Attempts to view
the questionaire by way of the conversion wizard are futile. The
conversion wizard refuses to provide any access, because it says that
the e-mail address is not found. In the absence of effective
instructions, it is not known if or how the current subscription can be
unsubscribed without the special intervention of an administrator. Even
if the current and original subscription can be unsubscribed by an old
style command, there is no reason to believe that a new subscription can
be registered without submitting to the unwanted password regime and the
involuntary questionaire (which is not yet viewable).
As you can see, the simple process is not as simple as it may first
appear. The older style of simple commands and no passwords is
infinitely preferable to the current commercialized scheme.
Also, the suggestion that the hosting of the maillist is free is not
entirely accurate. The hosting may have no direct monetary cost, but
there is a considerable cost in time and labor by the list managers,
post authors, and others participating in the list activities. It is
true that the host is contributing the facilities and some labor,
however the host is also not sharing any of the advertising revenues
with the list managers or post authors. So, there is room for
alternative views about who is contributing what versus who is
benefiting how much in the overall scheme.
Commercial ownership of the host has already made multiple changes in
ownership and management. Noting Yahoos!' struggles for profitability,
it is reasonable to assume that the future of the maillist host is
llikey to continue changing ownership and responsibility. With that
prospect in mind, the benefits accruing from a long-term and stable
association with a non-commercial host, non-profit organization and/or
educational establishment, appear to be rather attractive. They may not
even require those troublesome passwords and questionaires <smile>.
Dallas Patterson
nye@fidalgo.net
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