Thought y'all might find this thread from an Atlanta board an interesting example of how some just DGI. A post from a DGI in red, and my response in blue (if it works)

Hee's an idea...... by cheapskate

why don't all of you who are determined that life will cease to function on 01/01/2000 post your e-mail addresses....so that when THE WORLD DOESN'T END we can e-mail you and remind you of how foolish you've been.

Do you really expect Clark and the other EDUCATED people to decide that oh my gosh, we all need to panic, just because you started this thread? There's TONS more documentation showing where MOST THINGS WILL BE JUST FINE when midnight hits on New Year's Eve. I guess we all won't know for sure until the calendar changes who is right.

Get a life.

Am I panicing? I don't think so. It's people like you who will cause the panic because there was no forethought.

Do I have a life? Yep, a nice one in fact.

Am I educated? Absolutely. I work on a daily basis with companies trying to ready their systems. Specifically in the HR area. I'm seeing companies scrambling to have payroll systems readied.

Do I see the BIG PICTURE? Yep, you?

Some won't make it, and there will be people who will go without pay in this country. I would say thousands will be affected.

Were you aware that about 300 teachers in Washington D.C have been protesting the fact that they haven't been paid for 6 weeks because of computer problems with the system rushed into implementation because the legacy system was not Y2K compliant? I didn't think so.

Were you aware Hershey's shut down there production lines earlier in the summer to de-bug the systems put into production because legacy systems were not Y2K ready. People at Hershey's were laid off during the period. Another company, a different reason for not getting paid, but still Y2K related. That news probably went right by you.

Contractors to the World Bank this summer. Same story, only months without pay for them. World Bank? Do you even know what that is?

City of Philadelphia...same story again. I know, north of the Mason Dixon line, you probably figure they get what they deserve.

Is this the end of the world? Of course not. Have I said it will be? Never! But for these people impacted, life just may be different for a very long time.

Why people won't recognize the impact that this can have is beyond me. Simple preparations beyond a 3-day storm can help these people to at least feed their families and have money set aside for necessities during the rough times. Nothing wrong with that.

This country was founded on these principles. Work ethics have always included the notion of store away extras during the good times to get you through the bad times.

Or, are you a hand to mouth kind of person who is only one month from welfare and the bread lines at any given time?

Fact is, there is a storm coming, we know it, and with three weeks to go there are still basic things we can do to prepare for it.

Nothing wrong with that, is there?

And by the way, the e-mail address isn't a secret...

Duke1983@aol.com

-- Duke 1983 (Duke1983@AOL.com), December 09, 1999

Answers

Diuke, you're wrong! You say thousands will be affected. Many millions will be affected worldwide!!!!

-- bbb (bbb@bbb.com), December 09, 1999.

I'm trying to mute the message and not get labeled as a "crackpot". Maybe toning it down will get some of the DGI's to say well, yeah, now that's believable!

-- Duke 1983 (Duke1983@AOL.com), December 09, 1999.

Duke,

Tone it down?

You could have added:

- Oakland municipal payroll - Orlando school dist payroll - Austin (TX) comm college payroll - Spokane (WA) county payroll

and soon to be City of L.A. payroll.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 09, 1999.

Wasn't aware of those others, Homer, thanks!

Do you have links or threads to those?

-- Duke 1983 (Duke1983@AOL.com), December 09, 1999.

"I know, north of the Mason Dixon line, you probably figure they get what they deserve". That was kind of an interesting statement. Considering the fact that only about 1 in 5 people who live in Atlanta were even born in the South. But you were right about the statement. We really don't care. Stay warm if the power goes off.

-- duh forgot (duh@hillbilly.possum), December 09, 1999.