From: mpd@netcom.com (Mike Duvos)
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 95 16:10:51 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Files and mail
In-Reply-To: <m0rQMsX-000SwxC@icicle.winternet.com>
Message-ID: <199501070010.QAA02210@netcom10.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


drechsau@winternet.com (Mike Horwath) carefully explains all the
reasons why is it better to have a Netcom account than a
Winternet account!

 > I was going to be in, I decided to rest instead.  So sue me
 > for it.

Big providers like Netcom have many employees and many machines.
Things do not screech to a halt when "the guy who owns the
machine" takes a mental health day. :)

 > Talk about net.good.will...you stole service after it was
 > suspended.

Free service offered to the public cannot be stolen, even by
prior dissatisfied customers.  Big providers like Netcom don't
care if someone they don't like logs onto the machine again as
"guest".

 > Tuesday, after being up for 20+ hours and getting a couple
 > hours sleep, you call ... Again, sue me, this time for being
 > tired.

Service at big providers like Netcom doesn't slack off when "the
guy who owns the machine" misses his nap...

 > Wednesday, I was going to be into work, which you assumed I
 > would be, ... I decided I was going to take that day off ...

...or when "the guy who owns the machine" goes fishing...

 > The machine being down was not used as an excuse, but it is
 > hard to operate like we used to with only one user machine.

...or when "the machine" is broken.

 > That is 2 counts in 2 days (notified on monday, early, of
 > the spamming, notified on wed of the mass unsolicited
 > mailings).  Sorry, someone had to put their foot down, and
 > it happened to be us.

Big service providers like Netcom don't interfere with customer
use of the resources they sell, except when network functionality
is impacted.  Even in such cases, they try to reach an
understanding with the user, and terminate accounts only as a
last resort.  Accounts don't vanish when "the guy who owns the
machine" decides to throw a tantrum.

 > It was innapropiate for the groups that you posted to.

Big providers like Netcom don't pass editorial judgment on the
content of material posted by their customers.

 > Sorry Carol Anne, but this is a system I administer and I
 > use the AUP to protect all of us accross the 'net.

I am sure we will all sleep more soundly knowing that Mike
Horwath and his tiny pimple of a machine on the Internet are
"protecting" us.

 > We had talked about the winternet t-shirts and how we would
 > use the work you did and the monies you would receive as
 > payment.

Big providers like Netcom don't make silly little deals with
customers for T-shirts...

 > Well, no t-shirts have gone out and at this time, I will be
 > cancelling all orders for them and will redesign them and
 > have them produced externally to what you have done.  This
 > is what happens when you hold something over someones head.

...or cancel those agreements out of spite when they don't get
everything done their way.

You know, I used to use BBS systems a great deal before large
providers like Netcom began offering personal accounts with
Internet access at reasonable rates.  A BBS is about as far from
a common carrier as one can get, and many Sysops disclaim all
your rights under the ECPA, read private mail, forbid the use of
PGP, decide what opinions may be expressed on various issues, and
boot off any user who questions anything they do.  Since the
Sysop owns the machine, they are legally within their rights to
act like this, and as long as there are enough users who will put
up with their behavior, they can run a system.

Now that Unix boxes are not much more expensive than PCs used to
be, every asshole in the world who played Sysop on a BBS now
envisions himself as Sysadmin of an ISP.  So you have an
infestation of tiny service providers, running on toy machines,
that coast along for a few years until the person running them
either goes bankrupt or gets bored.  I certainly wouldn't
subscribe to one of these services, because the management
mentality and problematical service most of them provide is
exactly what I came to Netcom to get away from.

Quite frankly, I don't see why Carol doesn't just get a Netcom
account and stop quibbling with this twit.  Stop letting him
waste any more of your time and let him play his administrative
power games with newbies who don't know any better.

My two cents.

-- 
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $