🚀 go-pugleaf

Just sent Google Groups Beta Support at
http://groups-beta.google.com/support/bin/request.py
the following e-mail. A copy was also sent to
groups-support@google.com
(and if you cannot read this e-mail address on
Google Groups then here it is spelled out)
groups-support <at> google <dot> com

You may want to contact google as well and make your views known
about their new Beta system.

-= Message text sent to google =-

Subject: Problems with obscured E-mail addresses on groups.google

To Whom it may Concern:

We are _Not_ impressed with your new web layout and features.
Your old UseNet Newsgroup system was better.

For the past few years we used groups.google and prior to that
we used Deja News to look at local and national *.forsale groups.
The advantage over our regular news reader is that we don't have
to download the lot and the search features are better on
your old system.

Here is the big BUT with your new system. Most posters in
tor.forsale.* etc. already obscure their e-mail address to
something like this:

janedoe_REMOVE_THIS@isp123.com

In the body of the ad or message text it may say:
"to reply, remove the obvious (_REMOVE_THIS) and replace
isp123.com with rogers.com" for example.

Your system would obscure this e-mail address to:
j...@isp123.com
and after signing in to use your reply feature, your bot
would want to send an e-mail to janedoe_REMOVE_THIS@isp123.com
somthing that will not work. You also obscure posted e-mail
addresses in the body of the post.

Essentially you made your groups.google system useless.
After all, if someone posts their e-mail address in the clear,
they do want to be found. It is also a copyright issue. The
poster owns the copyright to the message and and reposting it
in an altered form would be a violation of this copyright under
the DMCA from my understanding of it.

Yes I know, there is the abuse issue and the harvesting of e-mail
addresses, but if you have a closer look at most UseNet postings,
you would notice that most posters here use free web e-mail
(throw-away)
accounts or use an ISP with good SPAM filters. The only SPAM that
gets by our filters is the odd Nigeriam Scam artist and they are
sooo easy to spot. We may get one Nigerian Scam e-mail every two
days or so on a yahoo account with an e-mail address given out in
my posts. The rest of the Spam ends up in my yahoo bulk e-mail folder
never to be read. I don't know about gmail, but assume your system
is not much different.

Have a look at this thread:
<http://groups-beta.google.com/group/tor.forsale.computers/browse_thread/thread/f46fad66f0b4c1a5/59356305ae2b7162?q=%22google+screwed+up%22&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fas_q%3D%26num%3D100%26scoring%3Dd%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26as_epq%3Dgoogle+screwed+up%26as_oq%3D%26as_eq%3D%26as_ugroup%3D%26as_usubject%3D%26as_uauthors%3D%26as_drrb%3Dq%26as_qdr%3D%26as_mind%3D1%26as_minm%3D1%26as_miny%3D1981%26as_maxd%3D11%26as_maxm%3D12%26as_maxy%3D2004%26safe%3Doff%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#59356305ae2b7162>

All you are going to archive with your new beta system is that you
are going to drive people like myself off groups.google. Something
that would not benefit your organization.

BTW *.forsale groups in Canada are alive and well and we don't want
them tampered with by Google.

May I leave you with this conspiracy theory:
Did Epay pay you guys off in order to hurt the local UseNet *.forsale
groups? :-)

Regards

JR