X-Message-Number: 1286
Date: 09 Oct 92 00:07:22 EDT
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: CRYONICS

Re long messages:
 
More than one person has suggested that if I (and other 
Compuserve users) don't like paying to read long messages 
from Internet users, I (and my ilk) should log onto a BBS 
which provides flat-rate or free Internet access.
 
This answers the first point of my original message. But it 
does not answer the second point, which was that even if 
access is free, it takes a significant amount of time to 
download, read, evaluate, edit, and/or discard sections of 
very long postings. 
 
I don't like the idea of imposing any kind of limit on 
anything. I suggested a limit of 10 KB per day ONLY if all 
else failed. As I said originally, it would be much easier if 
people could exercise a little judgment or self-restraint. In 
the case of very long postings of minority interest, why not 
upload just a summary and invite interested readers to access 
the full text directly from the source? 
 
Just for the record, I did not find Edgar's multiple long 
postings dull or boring. But this isn't really the point. 
There could be many pieces of text that I might find 
interesting, such as excerpts from science magazines 
(tangentially relating to cryonics), cryonics history, news 
of life-extension drugs, and so on. But because of time 
constraints, I would like to be given the OPTION of reading 
this kind of material, rather than find myself FORCED to 
browse through it in order to locate the usual cryonet 
material that I do want to read. 
 
Getting back to the suggestion that I should subscribe to a 
cheaper service: without boring you with the details, the 
alternatives in my area-code are unsatisfactory for various 
reasons. In any case, as all libertarians are well aware, 
when a resource is "free," it becomes subject to various 
forms of abuse. Rather than have me subscribe to a free-
access service, how about if everyone else subscribed to pay-
per-kilobyte services? If that happened, I'm sure that the 
"prolix problem" would quickly take care of itself. 
 
I'm being facetious, of course. But only somewhat. 
 
--Charles Platt 

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