Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!rutgers!psuvax1!psuvm!f0o
From: F0O@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Prodigy - Conversations with Fred
Message-ID: <90328.104900F0O@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 24 Nov 90 15:49:00 GMT
References: <3493@ryn.esg.dec.com>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 68

In article <3493@ryn.esg.dec.com>, reisert@ricks.enet.dec.com (Jim Reisert)
says:

>    The story is bizarre but true, swears Herb Rothman. Seems Prodigy,
>    the network run as a joint venture by Sears and IBM, wouldn't let
>    somebody post a message in a coin-collecting forum that he was
>    looking for a particular Roosevelt dime for his collection. Upset,
>    the man called "member services." The representative told him the
>    message violated a Prodigy rule against mentioning another user in a
>    public message. "What user?" the man asked. "Roosevelt Dime," the
>    rep replied. "That's not a person!" the man said. "Yes he is, he's a
>    halfback for the Chicago Bears," the rep shot back.

     This is certainly a bit paranoid of Prodigy.  I can understand
    since Prodigy is more of a family system, that they would want to
    be careful, but on the other hand CompuServe also has kids on it.
    I do hope Prodigy will relax their censorship a bit.

>    Rothman is one of those alleged compu-terrorists Prodigy claims is
>    harassing other users and companies that advertise on the service by
>    sending out thousands upon thousands of increasingly hostile
>    messages in protest of a Prodigy plan to begin charging users who
>    send more than 30 e-mail messages a month. Rothman and the others
>    say they sent very polite messages to people (Penny Hay of Los
>    Angeles says her messages were even approved by the Prodigy legal
>    department) telling them about the new fees and urging them to
>    protest.

     Why would he want to protest?  I've heard they want to charge $0.10
    for every email message over 30 a month.  What's wrong with this?
    Think about it, you're only paying ten something *a month* to use
    their service; Compuserve is $12 an hour!  Another way of looking
    at it is the $12/hr breaks down to $0.10 every 30 seconds.  So,
    even if you left Prodigy, where could you go to get a better deal?
    I think all these people are making a big fuss over nothing.

>    What's really happening is that Prodigy is proving its complete
>    arrogance and total lack of understanding of the dynamics of on-line
>    communication. They just don't get it. People are NOT going to spend
>    nearly $130 a year just to see the weather in Oregon or order trips
>    to Hawaii.

     That's right, at least I hope they don't!  Wether it's worth it
     or not depends on how much you use the system.  If you're on more
     than 2 hours a month, then it's cheaper than CompuServe.
     Of course CompuServe has more services, but it all comes down to
     what YOU really need.

     [...stuff deleted...]

>    Is this any way to run an on-line system? Does Prodigy really want
>    to drive away the people most inclined to use the service -- and see
>    all those ads that pop up at the bottom of the screen? Prodigy may
>    soon have to do some accounting to the folks at IBM and Sears, who
>    by most accounts have already poured at least $750 million into
>    "this thing."

>    {Contributed by Wes Plouff}

     The ads are a pain, but at $10 *a month* they have to make up
    the difference somehow.
     I think the bottom line is, if you don't like the system, then
    go to some other system.

                                                        [Tim]

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