urol@ecsvax.UUCP (04/19/84)
{How often have you had the feeling that you have just been taken advantage of
by a car dealer, repair shop, department store, physician, lawyer etc. After
your blood pressure settles down you come to the irksome conclusion that
there is little that you can do about it-- or is there? I suggest that a
new newsgroup "net.consumer" may be the answer. Perhaps the guilty parties
may think twice about taking advantage of someone if there was a way to
caution other consumers about unfair practices. I would be interested in
seeing if others share this feeling and would like to do something about it.
-urol (F.A. Fried)andrew@inmet.UUCP (04/22/84)
#R:ecsvax:-233100:inmet:4000062:000:123 inmet!andrew Apr 21 13:40:00 1984 There has been a "net.consumers" for several weeks now. Perhaps your site doesn't receive it; contact your administrator.
rose@uw-june (Scott Rose) (04/28/84)
That seems at only first glance to be a good idea, methinks. The potential for abuse is just too large. While I trust the judgement of some of the people I know well to give an objective assessment of goods or services received, can one trust the judgement of a total stranger? Sad but true, the net represents a slice of general humanity, which therefore includes a hefty portion of people who have little or no capacity for objectivity. The point is that a reputable business operation can very easily be slan- dered and suffer injury at the hands of an unreasonable person; the temp- tation to steer away from businesses against which we have been warned will be great, even in the absence of any real evidence to justify a virtual boycott. Better, I think, not to open this particular avenue of potential abuse.