-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Wed, 22 May 1996, Bruce Baugh wrote: :Pointing people at legitimate uses of anonymity, as various folks have :suggested, is undoubtedly a good idea. Would anyone care to suggest a few :newsgroups where the vast majority of anonymous posts have really good :reasons for being so? On certain political newsgroups (perhaps most noticeably in the soc.culture.* heirarchy) it's common to see someone's views refuted because they are identified with a particular interest group. The "result" of the argument is suspect simply because it may be considered favourable to the author's interest-group, the (sometimes rigourous) argument /justification is pushed aside in the rush to malign another's contention. Anonymity serves as a barrier for some of these conjecturous refutations (though there is a loss of credibility associated with an anonymous post as well). In certain other cases, someone may wish to keep their employer ignorant of their political beliefs. Then there are all the cases where one wishes to keep sexual-orientation (or anything else considered private), membership in an organization from others. There is no doubt that anonymity is an extremely valuable position to occupy (and an important option to keep open for everyone). Of course we tend to hear of the "bad" uses to which remailers are put. hostmaster@trill-home.com * Trills 4 thrills * Blue-Ribbon * Lynx 2.5 Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW" means the price went way up. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Key Escrow = Conscription for the masses | 2048 bit via finger iQB1AwUBMaPb6xwDKqi8Iu65AQH16AL9GIL69AjCdJpmMVULUyFdbvjDu511+H4y Kbow6o501FiWJJvqNitEqQHVTe+O3RCFIKdW3UyVibb08ndCcvtADbA69+DOIW0H TPAq5eM6f5EMADg53wnFlimpdl+gnIsT =edo3 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----