Jim Griffin, his royal phoness, has assured me that email subscribers are not required to subscribe to the new Pho features to continue receiving the list.

Email from Jim:

Dear Lisa and others:

I did not write the paragraph in question, but I can tell you that the pholist website is an additional offering, not mandatory for phosters.

There will continue to be a pho list, just as there is now, and if you do nothing you will continue to be subscribed to it. I highly recommend the pholist web site -- JP's building it to supplement and enrich the Pho experience, and like any summer shakedown cruise it's likely to have its moments, like these, but stick with it and give it a chance.

The pho list will continue as is and there is no requirement with which I am familiar that requires any current pho list participant to register with the web site. Over time it may well prove a good interface to which we can migrate, but I can't imagine ridding the list of people who choose otherwise. My servers at onehouse.com will continue to operate this list as always, and John's web site as I understand it seeks to offer a more enriching community experience, which I support wholeheartedly.

Jim

I'm totally bummed. My favorite mailing list now has a terms of agreement and wants me to login and accept a bunch of cookies just to continue participating on the email list. Why does everything simple and useful have to get complicated and intrusive once it gets popular. It just doesn't seem fair. (John Parres, pho list admin, clarified a few points later: "Some of you are going to have fun with the legal page. I bet I can predict who you will be. Nothing is set in stone. The language has yet to be 'pholosophised.' I am not a lawyer. If some of the eagles want to help tighten/clarify things I will be most appreciative for the assistance. Please know that Jim and I have the utmost respect for your privacy and are making best efforts to ensure that this always remains true.")

To learn more about the new Pholist features, check out a text file of E-mail sent out to phosters this morning.

Excerpt from above email that started all of this (that Griffin refers to above.):

No one is required to list any information on the site, however, everyone is required to activate their account as a condition of remaining on the Pho list. Yes, the site utilizes cookies so this function must be enabled in your browser for the site to work for you. Please don't complain, that's just the way it is.