At 12:02 PM 10/28/03 -0800, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
From: Joe
<rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
---snip---
Remember, the list is here to try to HELP people with classic computer
stuff, which includes giving/selling stuff to people that need/want it.
It annoys the hell out of me everytime I see this topic pop up, after Jay
has already explained what's going on.
And it annoys me to have to wade through piles of messages from clueless
people asking for or about things that happened so long ago that I don't
even remember what the conversation was about or who posted it. on top of
that, I've tried helping a number of them and 99% of them never have the
courtesy to reply. One batch of CC list messages that I got this weekend
had nine messages in it and SEVEN of them were this type messages. Frankly
I get tired of the "I see you have an Altair. I'll take it if it's free and
you're willing to pay the shipping and guarantee that it works." type
messages.
Hi
The problem seems to be that there is some ulterior motive
for these post. The fact that none reply indicates that these
people are after something other than help from list members.
What that is, I don't know. I have stopped replying to these
until I know what they are up to.
It could be some form of address gathering but the messages
indicate that they took some time to compose the message
( although the content tends to lack knowledge of the subject ).
It is possible that there is some kind of AI application
harvesting addresses from replies. The messages have just
enough similarity to let me believe this might be true.
Dwight
Excellent point! I wonder if there's a easy way to check out their
address before replying to it. Anyone know?
Joe