tom, i happen to have kept the "internet manager's phonebook," the August 1990 bbn/nnsc publication of the whois data. you're welcome to ocr it and see how many of the contact data are still valid. on a spot check: for my own entry only the email address still is still correct, sob's phone and email are as current (but i am not sure about snail), ohta-san's data are different, john schnizlein sure has moved, and only jis's email is the same. the introduction, among other things, says Many of the network administrators listed in this book expressed concern about receiving additional solicitations, advertisements, and junk fax as a result of being listed. We are asking companies to respect the administrators' wishes, and not use this book for marketing purposes. Thank you! so such abuses of the whois data were of concern then. note the word "additional." <sigh> my rotting memory says i was receiving uce when i was using an arpanet addresses, uucp !path, and a fidonet node number. i don't think i got uce on telenet's telemail service, but now you're back to the '70s. and attempts at automation of problem reporting have a similarly long history. their accuracy has not improved significantly, and the number of garbage emails i get from them is about the same as the direct spam. the best thing about them is that they are easier to procmail. i wish i could remember which beatles' (i think it was) song had the refrain "we have all been here before." randy