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From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service
Message-ID: <14573@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 11 Nov 90 02:53:02 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 809, Message 2 of 6


In article <14478@accuvax.nwu.edu>, TELECOM Moderator notes:

> [Moderator's Note: I'm hearing some bad news about Prodigy lately. So
> 'they' say, several users recently were summarily evicted from the
> service after they sent email to other users criticizing the service's
> plan to begin charging for 'excessive' amounts of email.  Does anyone
> have any details on this?  PAT]

The {Wall Street Journal} has had several articles concerning Prodigy
recently.  Apparently there was an outcry when the "moderators" at
Prodigy started deleting postings on controversial topics.  They said
it was a "family" type service, and I imagine they wanted to avoid the
kind of flamewars that have developed elsewhere.

So when the deletions were criticized, their response was that users
could still email whatever they wanted to each other.  Of course, this
is not the same as posting to a public forum.

At the time they announced that, there were no email charges.  Then
recently they started charging for email.  When a number of people
started questioning this, they found themselves cut off from the
network.

It should be interesting to see how this develops.  Remember that when
you post to a Prodigy, it may SEEM like a public forum ... but it is
actually controlled by IBM and Sears.


Tad Cook   Seattle, WA  Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA  Phone: 206/527-4089 
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