Now the reporter will never prove the Mars landing was a hoax [telecom]

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[Moderator snip]

The AT&T 'books' that were just delivered here in the Appleton, WI area also, for the first time, omit the residential white pages listings. The very good local street maps that they had been using for the last couple of decades are gone, too.

Sigh....

Fine. I tried it. It's a much worse interface than RHDonnelley's. It took three steps to get to the page, which is a single page .pdf. If I'm browsing, it won't even let me go to the next page without first choosing a name that lands on the page. Good grief. No one will use it a second time.

Ah. Thanks for explaining the reference.

Yes, the movie starts out great but then it runs out of plot around the middle. I should track down the novel, which I never read.

Sometimes an older edition of a directory will have a listing that is not provided later on. For instance, in my area the USPS used to provide the phone numbers of each individual post office; likewise for many banks and retailers. But now these big organizations list only a central 800 number and don't give out individual location listings. For the consumer it means dealing with "voice mail jail" and automated sales pitches you can't bypass. Sometimes one must contact a local office; for instance, to see if they're open during a snowstorm.

Also, sometimes individuals change their home number to unpublished which won't appear in the newest directory, but will appear in an older version.

Of course the flip side to all this is most people won't want the bulk of retaining older directories.

As to providing an on-line alternative, I sure hope it's more accurate than the online directories provided today. Disconnected phone numbers remain visible for years after disconnection; and numbers are listed in the wrong town and not available in ordinary searches. Some numbers show up only when using a very precise search argument; a hard copy user wouldn't have that problem.

It's no great loss. For over 15 years, the post office has been actively discourage the public from calling the local office. The phone number that used to be published in the phone directory is likely disconnected. Postal management has been changing the phone numbers of post offices specifically to thwart the general public from calling, and the phone numbers are now getting changed every second or third year.

I've heard stories from staff that their office phone numbers were changed without telling staff that works at the office.

I have noticed that many banks that did not publish the phone numbers for their branches have now resumed listing them with address and phone number. But not the post office. Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

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Ah, the saga of directory listings. How many people recall that France Telecom was the driving force behind the "Minitel" terminal in the 1970-1980 era? Everyone on this side of the ocean wondered whyFrance Telecom was so successful with their Minitel when our own attempts at Videotex / Teletex were abismal failures. It turns out that A) They were distributed free to France Telecom subscribers and B) The paper directories were never accurate or updated and live information service was equally horrid. Thus the only way to look up a telephone number was to use a Minitel and its associated online DB. Is this a repeat of the same strategy that worked (sort of) 40 years ago?

Jack

***** Moderator's Note *****

A. Because it breaks the natural top-to-bottom flow of a written conversation. Q. Why is top-posting bad?

Bill Horne Moderator

Heh!

As a moderator of several astronomy and computer groups, I (fortunately) infrequently have to add the following items copy'n'pasted to reformatted malformed replies:

(1) A: Yes. Q: Does that happen with short messages too? A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is it such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in forums and in e-mail?

(2) A: It is contrary to logical thought. Q: Why is top posting bad?

(3) A: Yes.

(4) /* Moderator note: * Please inline or bottom post per the posting requirements * you accepted by joining this group: * * * * */

Feel welcome to use any/all of the above. :-)

Well, that's interesting since if you go to usps.com and input a ZIP code e.g. 04101 for Portland, ME at 400 Congress St you'll first see

800-ASK-USPS but if you click on the location it brings you to another page where it tells you the number is (207) 761-0267. If you input the ZIP code 98102 at 101 Broadway East in Seattle it also says call 800-ASK-USPS but if you click on the link it will tell you the post office's number is (206) 324-5474. I checked several ZIP codes and they all seem to show the number of the ZIP's post office.

And compare any of these numbers you found on line to numbers that were published in past telephone directors, and you'll find that they've changed.

Also, try to find the correct phone numbers in ordinary on-line telephone directories as opposed to only the post office's Web site.

You can get these phone numbers from 800 ASK-USPS too but only after going through several menu layers.