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Mark et. al.<BR>
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Some on V2020 privately e-mailed and indicated they could not view your recent V2020 post with that long list of e-mail addresses. Do you realize you are sending content in some of your V2020 posts that can tie up a slow dial-up connection for a period of time? This is not recommended, considering how many V2020 subscribers use dial-up, unless the content is essential to your point, and I do not think your business logo, or whatever you chose to call it, and the special "background" in your post, which both take extra bandwidth to load, is essential, unless you are trying to use V2020 to promote your business.<BR>
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It's simple to forward a V2020 post to whomever you wish, and not reveal to V2020 a list of e-mail addresses that contains addresses not subscribed to V2020. Some of the e-mail addresses in your long list of e-mail addresses you sent to V2020 were already subscribed to V2020 anyway, so they got two copies of your post. <BR>
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There is also the "suppressed list" of e-mail addresses method of sending e-mails to long lists of addresses, which blocks everyone on the list from seeing all the other addresses on the list, but I have never done this.<BR>
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Regarding the "problems" with V2020, it is unmoderated, and open to the public, so some content will inevitably reflect this "public square soapbox" freedom for whoever wants to speak. This is to be expected. Those who look down their noses at this process of open democracy, with all the raucous, loud and/or irrelevant noises inherent, might consider the possible elitism implied in this attitude<BR>
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Some of the discussions on the V2020 list, even with all its faults, actually provide a more in depth look at some community issues than our local newspaper provides. The recent school bond levy was discussed at a level of detail and fact that I did not see present in the local press. Of course along with the critical information and arguments was a lot of back and forth disputation of a contentious, perhaps nonsensical and/or ego driven nature.<BR>
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But the fact that anyone with concerns about the school levy could post to V2020 actually allowed for a very broad range of arguments both pro and con to surface.<BR>
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This is to be applauded, I think, rather than to suggest the V2020 discussion of this issue was a failure.<BR>
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Ted Moffett<BR>
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