"ian field" wrote in message
...

"Brian Hill" wrote in message ...

"jim menning" wrote in message

Let me give my 2-cents worth to say I really oppose your suggestion.

Madeleine McCann is only one of tens of thousands of kids that go missing each
year. Her case is only special because her family can afford to pay for media
hype. Although I can sympathize with her family, the likelihood that I will see
their lost child running around in Grand Chute, Wisconsin is astronomical. There
are many local issues that do deserve my attention, and even one second to click
on the "Mark as read" button for Madeleine is a waste of my time, caused by some
"do-gooder" who wants to further sensationalize the tragic story.

I'd hesitate to see the floodgates open if any/all crime victims start to post to
ALL binary (or text) groups looking for their kidnapped children, stolen artwork,
or deadbeat daddies. This particular crime was in Portugal. Let the
Portugal/European media and authorities handle it. No need to waste the time of
millions of other people around the world.

Let Portugal develop their own "Amber Alert" and look for the child that way.


A waste of your time? My 2c states " You can never do enough to help any child no
matter how rich their family is or how poor and I don't care what floodgates get
opened" My time is worth less than any child.

BH


Jim thinks binaries can only be viewed in Wisconsin!


Why would you come up with that conclusion? Stop putting words in my mouth. The
reason I don't agree with posting this kind of stuff on the newsgroups is because I
know they are seen EVERYWHERE.

The Amber Alerts inform us here if a LOCAL child is lost by reporting it over all
LOCAL media (TV, radio, and newspapers). Highway traffic alert signs are even used
around here to inform the public in emergency situations. Recently a small child was
reported missing near here, and the city used the tornado warning sirens to make
people turn on their radios or TVs to find out what was going on in an effort to
locate the child. That kind of action is effective, without wasting the time of
those who don't need to know about it. If a child disappears from my town, there is
no need to tell everyone over in Osaki, Japan about it to have them start looking
there. In the same way, I don't need to be informed that a child is missing from
Portugal on the internet, when I am far from Portugal.

Now if every lost child incident were reported on every internet newsgroup around the
world, think of the millions of total hours wasted by individuals that can do
absolutely nothing to help. It not only doesn't make any sense to report it there
(worldwide) in the first place, but too many of these reports would also lead to a
more apathetic society that gets tired of having their time wasted by things of which
they can do nothing about. It wouldn't be long before most newsgroup readers set
their filters to block out all those types of posts. Keep local issues local. Use
the media and resources that are already out there. Posting to
alt.binaries.pictures.radio is NOT an effective means of informing the Portuguese to
look for this child. We do not need it here. If you really want to help, fly over
to Portugal, and start tacking up posters on every street corner. If leads take you
into other areas, go there. But please don't assume that everyone in the whole world
should be informed of every incident. We have our own local issues to deal with,
often ones in which we can make a difference. That is if we're not wasting our time
reading 99.99+% of the reports that we have no control over.