As Randy pointed out, any company already is capable of
having an individual reading the list and responding to
questions. Responding personally is one thing, responding
as a company representative is quite another, in a legal sense.
That's one so many people have disclaimers after their
signatures. While its one thing for a widget wonker to put
in this disclaimer and have it taken seriously, its quite another
for a company in the business, I doubt it would help them much
if someone sued.
This being said, the reason for a company to participate
on this list is simple (as pointed out by Scott), does it
increase sales? If it did, it would pay for things like any
additional insurance charges the company might incur
for dispensing advice in this fashion. How do companies
often try to increase sales? THEY ADVERTISE.
I've seen through personal experience the blizzard of paper
just a few of these companies can generate. It would only
take ten of of these places at the most posting their ads
to make this list very untenable IMHO. I already see
more ads then I care too, and know who to call when
I run into trouble (company wise).
You can count me in as somewhere between "less than
thrilled" to "completely bummed out" about the prospect
of "companies" acting like companies on the list. As I mentioned
at the start, I am delighted if an individual who does this
stuff as a pro is on the list for their own enjoyment. Helping
companies to set up on the ftp sites does sound like an
excellent idea.
(mjb, would it be possible to send a "no ads" version of the
digest out?)
Mark M. Banaszak Holl
Brown University
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