In a message dated 95-07-24 09:43:39 EDT, you write:
 
>At 2:16 PM 7/23/95, Susan King wrote:
>> Some way to form a laundry list
>>so if someone is removed from one service there will be a database to check
>all
>>new subscribers against before giving them an account elsewhere. They do
>this
>>with credit cards. Everyone using a commercial service does have to give
>some
>>type of name and credit information.
>
>        As much as I'd like to agree, the idea of blacklisting people from
>the net bothers me immensely. [ ... ]
>importantly, is that there are hundreds of small-time network providers in
>the US alone.  If we can somehow prevent the person from signing on with a
>big service which has a responsible postmaster, they will sign up with a
>smaller, less responsible provider.  It's certainly in AOL's best interest
>to "discipline" their users, but other service providers might not care too
>much about the opinions of the rest of the net (Daemon, Netcom...)
 
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I have had to deal with trouble
users who have bounced from service to service, racking up the abuse on each
service until they are kicked off. It would have been helpful in cases like
that to know about histories from other services.
 
On the other hand, blacklisting does smack of playing god with the net.
 
If we could somehow limit the participation in the forum to "official"
representatives of services, and agree only to discuss particularly egregious
offenders (as opposed to your average run-of-the-mill spammer), I think I'd
be more willing to become involved.
 
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