Re: XySearch -- Status Report

["J. R. Fox" jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

Robert Holmgren wrote:

> Phooey. Is anyone still a Compuserve subscriber? I tried to get in using my
> free AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) monicker, but couldn't get past a certain
> level in the hierarchy of privilege... couldn't ascertain whether old msgs are
> still accessible in any form, e.g. archived in a ZIP somewhere if you can't
> just pull them up straightaway within the appropriate forum. They've revamped
> the whole thing anyway, & I was blocked from entering the word processing
> area...

Guilty, your honor. I've retained one of their old "Classic" cheapo accounts all
this time. It's been quite awhile since *both* Pac Bell and Earthlink service
happened to go down at the same time, but I've _never_ gotten shut out from use of
the extremely low-tech CS Classic mail service, or had any problem using their ISP
as a backup for the Web. Call it an indulgence, another paranoid redundancy. I
also wanted to retain the option of browsing all their content, even though it has
badly dwindled over the last several years. (Last time I checked, they were down
to maybe one forum for OS/2 -- probably shared with other things -- where formerly
there had been a bunch.)

That reminds me: I haven't visited or cleaned out that CS mailbox in at least 6
months. Most of it is apt to be stuff that was unsolicited and of no interest, but
man, what a mess that's gonna be !

A few years ago, I went into an NT forum and was a bit surprised to find some
messages going back to four years prior. That would probably not be typical. They
have reshuffled or eliminated so many forums, it's hard to say. Archivally
speaking, I suspect the old material is still available, _somewhere_, whether on
their system or elsewhere. I recall reading a good book on online security /
privacy issues, whose author warned that anything you said -- and regretted saying
-- online, would probably still be around somewhere, possibly to haunt you, "until
the sun burned out."

Jordan