In the early days of the Internet, back when we called it a "dirt road" and were delighted when email bounced from UUCP connection to UUCP connection as is slowly wound its way from one end of the topological jungle to the other, email mailing lists were quite the cool thing.

Years have passed and we now have sophisticated web-based discussion boards, blogs and many other venues for interpersonal interaction, but email remains, to me, the killer application, and it's on my mailing lists that I encounter the freshest thinking and most valuable information.

I can remember when there were two main places to find mailing lists too (other than the List of Lists and other short-lived directories), Topica and Yahoo Groups. Google's added its own collection -- of course -- with Google Groups too, but in many ways, Yahoo Groups was always my favorite place to look for people with similar interests.

Which is why it's so distressing to see that it's become an absolute safe haven for porn and spammers in ways that were unanticipated when Web-based lists were first envisioned...