[aprssig] APRS SPAM messages (auto replY)

[Robert Bruninga]

> Personally I would find it annoying....
> To receive automatic messages from repeater.s... along
> a freeway route on a day-long trip would be....annoying.

Absolutely!  APRS SPAM messages that fill up my mobiles MESSAGE
List and then BLOCK all further incoming messages until I read
them are a big irritation to mobile users.

Also, these darn'ed auto-reply messages are pure inconsiderate
junk most of the time!

I added auto-REPLY messsages in APRS for only one reason, that
is to allow an EOC or other APRS*LIVE* operator, to step away
from his operating position for a few minutes during a
heightened activity period.  He could enter a brief auto-reply
message "Be back by 1207 PM" and know that any critical incoming
messages would alert the sender to his immediate absence and
when he would return.  In APRSdos, this message times out AND is
automatically canceled as soon as the operator touches his
keyboard on return.

Instead we see people using these things 24/7 on unattended
stations, adding nothing but QRM and SPAM to an already busy
frequency.  Unfortunately, these days, since many APRS programs
do not transmit the OPERATOR-PRESENT BIT, we have no way of
identifying which stations (other than APRSdos and a few
others)are actively manned and which ones are not.  In most
cases it appears that it is safe to assume that NONE of them are
manned at any given instant. 

Therefore the last thing we need is AUTO-REPLY messages saying I
AM NOT HERE, THANK YOU FOR THE MESSAGE!
Duh... That is what the automatic ACK is for.   

Please turn off AUTO-REPLY messages, except for KNOWN MANNED
EMERGENCY or PRIORITY stations where the auto-reply is used to
*temporarily* inform net operators of the temporary absence of
the opeartor.  If you have something else to say to everyone ALL
THE TIME, then put it in your STATUS packet, not an
auto-REPLY-QRM message.  Also AUTO-REPLY message settings should
time out.

In my humble opinion.
Bob, WB4APR