[aprssig] Worst Path of the Day

[A.J. Farmer]

What is the big deal about identifying stations on APRS with bad paths
(that's how this thread started) and then contacting them and offering help?
Granted, not all of them want to hear what you have to say, but I'll bet the
majority of them just don't know any better and will welcome the assistance.
Remember, Amateur Radio is about learning about something and then helping
the next guy learn it too, right?

Also, it is difficult to find "understandable" operating information for the
*new* APRS operator.  Sure, everyone here knows what is going on, but for a
newbie, you can't expect them to know everything off the bat.  There is
plenty of technical information out there, but no general "how to's" that I
can easily find.  Try doing a search for APRS and see if you find
information that is "easy" to understand from the perspective of someone who
has never experienced APRS before.  It also was very difficult for me to
find and eventually join this list, and I'm no computer dummy. ;-)  All of
the links to the APRS-SIG list on TAPR are bad (at least they were a month
ago when I was trying to join this list).  I finally contacted the TAPR
webmaster to find out how to join.  Things like this prevent people from
learning the correct way to do things.  As a result, new APRS users guess
and we end up with all of these stations with crazy paths that don't make
sense.

Putting limitations on IGATEs, Findu, or whatever else will not resolve
these problems, they will only increase the potential to limit the
functionality of the system.  We need to go directly to the heart of the
problem - direct contact and education of stations that are operating
poorly.  That is everyone's job.  I'll do my part with any stations I see...

73!

A.J. Farmer, AJ3U
http://www.aj3u.com