adamg@world.std.com (Adam M Gaffin) (11/12/90)
Hi, Pat,
You asked for it, so here goes :-)
What follows is a news story and a column. Since the story ran,
Prodigy restored the account of the "Prodigy Nine'' and then, a
few days after that, pulled them again! The total number is
actually now up to about 15. At least one of them also lost
access to his checking account and there is a question about how
these people can get what's left in their mailboxes.
----------
{Middlesex News}, Framingham, Mass., 11/2/90
Prodigy Pulls Plug on Electronic Mail Service For Some
By Adam Gaffin
NEWS STAFF WRITER
Users of a national computer network vow to continue a protest against
censorship and a new charge for electronic mail even though the
company kicked them off-line this week.
Brian Ek, spokesman for the network, Prodigy, said the ``handful'' of
users had begun harassing other users and advertisers on the service
and that some had even created programs ``to flood members'
`mailboxes' with (thousands of) repeated and increasingly strident
harangues,'' he said.
But leaders of the protest say they sent only polite letters --
approved by the company's legal department -- using techniques taught
by the company itself. Up to nine of them had their accounts pulled
hips week.
Protests began in September when the company said it would cut
unlimited electronic mail from its monthly fee -- which includes such
services as on-line airline reservations, weather and games -- and
would charge 25 cents for every message above a monthly quota of 30.
Ek says the design of the Prodigy network makes ``e-mail'' very
expensive and that few users send more than 30 messages a month.
But Penny Hay, the only organizer of the ``Cooperative Defense
Committee'' whose account was not shut this week, said she and others
are upset with Prodigy's ``bait and switch'' tactics: the company
continues to promote ``free'' electronic mail as a major feature. She
said Prodigy itself had spurred use of e-mail by encouraging
subscribers to set up private e-mail ``lists'' rather than use public
forums and that the charges will especially hurt families, because the
quota is per household, not person.
Ek said relatively few members protested the rate chqange. Gary Arlen,
who publishes a newsletter about on-line services, called the
controversy ''a tempest in a teapot.''
Hay, however, said the group now has the backing of nearly 19,000
Prodigy users -- the ones advertisers would want to see on-line
because they are the most active ones on the system and so more likely
to see their ads.
The group is also upset with the way the company screens messages
meant for public conferences. Other services allow users to see
``postings'' immediately.
``They are infamous for this unpredicible and unfathomable
censorship,'' Hay said.
``We feel what we are doing is not censoring because what we are
essentially doing is electronic publishing,'' Ek said, comparing the
public messages to letters to the editor of a family newspaper.
Neil Harris, marketing director at the competing GEnie service, said
many people would feel intimidated knowing that what they write is
being screened. He said GEnie only rarely has to deleted messages. And
he said GEnie has picked up several thousand new customers from among
disgruntled Prodigy users.
----------
"Conversations with Fred," {Middlesex News}, Framingham, 11/6/90.
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.
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.
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.
Even the computerphobes Prodigy wants to attract quickly learn the
real value of the service is in finding new friends and holding
intelligent "discussions'' with others across the country.
But Prodigy blithely goes on censoring everything meant for public
consumption, unlike other nationwide services (or even bulletin-board
systems run out of some teenager's bedroom). Rothman's story is not
the only one about capricious or just plain stupid censoring. Dog
fanciers can't use the word ``bitch'' when talking about their pets,
yet the service recently ran an advice column all about oral sex. One
user who complained when a message commenting on the use of the term
``queen bitch'' on ``L.A. Law'' was not allowed on was told that
``queen b***h'' would be acceptable, because adults would know what it
meant but the kiddies would be saved.
So when the supposed technology illiterates Prodigy thinks make up its
user base managed to get around this through the creation of private
mail "lists'' (and, in fact, many did so at the urging of Prodigy
itself!), Prodigy started complaining of "e-mail hogs,'' quietly
announced plans to levy charges for more than a minute number of
e-mail messages each month and finally, simply canceled the accounts
of those who protested the loudest!
And now we are watching history in the making, with the nation's first
nationwide protest movement organized almost entirely by electronic
mail (now don't tell Prodigy this, but all those people they kicked
off quickly got back onto the system -- Prodogy allows up to six users
per household account, and friends simply loaned their empty slots to
the protest leaders).
It's truly amazing how little faith Prodigy has in the ability of
users to behave themselves. Other systems have "sysops'' to keep
things in line, but rarely do they have to pull messages. Plus,
Prodigy is just being plain dumb. Rothman now has a mailing list of
about 1,500. That means every time he sends out one of his newsletters
on collectibles, he sends 1,500 e-mail messages, which, yes, costs
more for Prodigy to send over long-distance lines and store in its
central computers. But if they realized their users are generally
mature, rather than treating them as 4-year-olds, Rothman could post
just one message in a public area, that everybody could see.
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.''
--------------
With your computer and modem, you can reach Fred the Middlesex News
Computer anytime, day or night, at (508) 872-8461. Set your parameters
to 8-1-N and up to 2400 baud.
[Moderator's Note: Thank you very much, Adam, for sharing these items
with us. Please keep us posted if further information goes in your
paper. PAT]
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (11/12/90)
Adam M Gaffin <adamg@world.std.com> most correctly enscribes: > 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. > Even the computerphobes Prodigy wants to attract quickly learn the > real value of the service is in finding new friends and holding > intelligent "discussions'' with others across the country. Amen and Amen. Some years ago, when I had divested myself of the nightmare called Interconnect Telecommunications Systems (don't ask -- but some will anyway), I decided to get back into "computing". It had been some years since the Altairs and Imsais had been relegated to the garage for the purpose of dust collecting. It was necessary to go "au currant", and an IBM PC clone was obtained which sported a gold plate Hayes 1200 bps internal modem. Packed with the modem was the obligatory Compuserve intro package. I bit. Got my account going and after a number of months of playing with OAG, "weather in Oregon", and endless reading of news articles from the St. Louis somethingorother, discovered e-mail and discussion groups. And then I discovered CHARGES. You know, those which occur when you stay connected for long periods. But I had learned something: the real fun of connectivity was communicating with people--friends, strangers with common interests, even strangers that would like to string you up by your thumbs. But sitting online with the clock ticking seemed most inefficient. Then some friends introduced me to UNIX, and the rest, as they say, is history. For the free-wheeling, uncensored, internationally distributed, fully gatewayed, fast, and unmeasured Internet, the price of admission is a system, the software and a friendly (or several friendly) local business(es) who has a gigantic VAX or some such who enjoys being connected to smaller sites. No per-message charges. No censoring of news submissions (Moderation is not censorship). No advertising. Just mostly responsible people who can share ideas. But this is not the purpose of Prodigy. The purpose of Prodigy is to sell computers, products, services, and itself. The interaction of subscribers is not only secondary, but probably undesirable to those in charge. Other than the graphics (and the apparently restrictive interface), what would Prodigy offer over, say, Compuserve? Many banks offer online banking direct without a third party. OAG is available as a separate subscription. Games are available from many sources. Anyone who operates a computer network that aspires to greatness will have to remember that the real goal is communication. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
judice@sulaco.enet.dec.com (Peripheral Visionary 12-Nov-1990 1031) (11/13/90)
I've been a Prodigy subscriber for about 6 months, and all I can say is that anyone with the PATIENCE to use Prodigy for anything more involved than getting a weather map is a better person than me. Really, try it sometime, and you'll see what I mean. ljj