[ILUG] email as file transfer

[Bryan O'Donoghue]

Stephen Reilly wrote:
> On 02/08/05, John P. Looney <valen at tuatha.org> wrote:
> 
>>On Tue, Aug 02, 2005 at 10:24:23AM +0100, Stephen Reilly mentioned:
>>
>>>>Email _is_ used for file transfer. People expect to be able to attach even
>>>>100 MB files to emails. And why shouldn't they?
>>>
>>>Why can't they just place the 100Mb file either in an accessible area
>>>of their network or on a webserver and just provide a link to it in
>>>mail?
>>
>> Often, email users don't have webservers or networks.
> 
> Those people should have no need to send a 100Mb file to anybody, let
> alone a bunch of people. Within most organisations network fileservers
> exist. Generally employees have access to some portion of that
> service.


Perhaps those people shouldn't.

However, if a system allows for undesirable use, then either the
"undesirable use" is an unreasonable definition of undesirable use, or
the system hasn't been properly designed to restrict unproper use.

The task of computers is to make things *easier* for humans, that's what
computers are for. Essentially, that if you give people rope to hang
themselves with... they will... over.. and over... and over again, thus,
if you don't want corpses hanging from the tress, either don't give them
rope, or give them sanctioned places for discorporation.

Since people are /already/ used to *abuse* of email, to send large
files, if, as parochial techies, we arbitrarily decide, that... we don't
like people actually using the system in a way that the system allows...
it's encumbent on us, to come up with a better system, that offers
advantages over the old system, to end users or to stop bitching about
dumb end user, who doesn't know any better then to use a system in a way
*we* haven't restricted him from using it.

It'd almost be like me, writing a program and not validating my input...
and then blaming *users* for finding out how my system was lacking...
Since that obviously works for the Microsoft's of the world (berating
people for not patching Microsoft supplied holes)... it probably *would*
be possible, to badger people sufficiently to change their behavior with
regard to use of email.... but, I maintain, that if your system gives
people enough rope to hang themselves with... and you don't like corpses
in the trees, it's up to you to change the system to work better.


-- 
"I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist
indoctrination, communist subversion, and the international communist
conspiracy
to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
Gen. Jack D. Ripper