I'm sitting here listening to Rush, and he's talking about Pierre Salanger's recent "discovery" ;-) of the anonymously posted friendly-fire TWA800 internet message of a few months back. In the process of discounting the story, and praising FBI pal Kalstrom, he bemoans the anonymity of the net, calling it a "nest of kooks", (mixed in with all the other "right thinking people", of course...). Given this, and, of course, our own fun and games with anonymous, er, slander, on this list, I'm frequently tempted to agree with him. After all, if someone says something wrong about you, how do find them and punish them? How do you know what the truth is, unless you know who said it? (What? An appeal to authority? Moi? I'm *shocked* you would assert such a thing...) Until, of course, I remember that anonymity is unpreventable, and, frankly, economically necessary for true internet commerce. Remember what agrarianism did to try to stop industrialism (up to, and including, socialism <he said, trolling for leftists>), and expect the worst, folks. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/