Keith Moore writes:
>It sounds like a valuable service. But most of the lists that you
>advertise are run for the benefit of the entire net community -- not
>just AOL. You are taking the time to collect the information and make
>sure it's accurate -- for which I commend you -- but those list
>maintainers are also taking their time to give you the information.
>Why should they have to do this separately for AOL?
That's a good question. Personally, I'd rather make sure that AOL members are
provided complete, accurate and up to date information about my lists.
Considering how many AOL members there are, making sure they have (or have
easy access to) accurate information is important. The amount of time it
takes to fill our (or verify) the information on a mailing list is miniscule
compared to the benefit of AOL members having access to the information.
BTW, we don't force list owners to have entries in our database. If a list
owner says they don't want to be in the database, that's fine with us, but we
can no longer guarantee that members will have access to accurate information
on the list, and our ability to assist members who have questions (or who
have followed inaccurate information) is compromised. We've never desired an
antagonistic relationship with any list owners, and in fact I think our
relationship with most owners is quite good. The AOL database provides a
useful, accurate, easily-locatible resource for members. It helps teach them
how to act in a responsible fashion on the Internet. It helps list owners by
minimizing the errors members might otherwise have made, and it helps expose
them to another two million or so potential clients.
I hope this has helped answer your concern. If it hasn't, *please* let me
know and I'll do my best to go into further detail.
--
___David O'Donnell (atropos@aol.net, PMDAtropos@aol.com)
\ America Online Postmaster, USENET Admin | Tel. +1 703/556-3725
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