Shortwave Sportfishing writes:

One, I don't want a stranger to contact me - of what possible use
would that be?

That's your situation; Usenet was collegial for about the first 15 years,
and in academic subjects, etc, it was a great way to meet strangers with
similar interests.

Two, many of my old friends are still friends and those who do keep in
touch have my email address and have for years. So what's the point?

I suppose it depends on how wide your circle of friends is, and how long
you've been accumulating them, but in my case, I hear rather frequently
from old chums or casual associates who lost track (or never kept it) and
want to re-establish correspondence.

By the way, nice looking website you have.

Thank you.

http://www.truetex.com/

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 00:56:50 -0500, Richard J Kinch
wrote:

Shortwave Sportfishing writes:

One, I don't want a stranger to contact me - of what possible use
would that be?

That's your situation; Usenet was collegial for about the first 15 years,
and in academic subjects, etc, it was a great way to meet strangers with
similar interests.

True enough, but let's not pretend it was all sweetness and light. I
remember some flame wars from the early '90s that could even curl the
hair of today's participants. :)

Later,

Tom

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 00:56:50 -0500, Richard J Kinch
wrote:

Shortwave Sportfishing writes:

One, I don't want a stranger to contact me - of what possible use
would that be?

That's your situation; Usenet was collegial for about the first 15 years,
and in academic subjects, etc, it was a great way to meet strangers with
similar interests.

True enough, but let's not pretend it was all sweetness and light. I
remember some flame wars from the early '90s that could even curl the
hair of today's participants. :)

My favorite was the book heads all talking about how the Internet wasn't
commercial and shouldn't be commercial. I told this snobs that my company
was leasing a T1 link from a commercial company and we were getting our
Internet connectivity from a commercial company, UUnet, and that the
Internet was going commercial regardless of what they wanted.