mjm wired ;)  

I graduated from the University of Some School about X years ago. For the past several months, I have been receiving non-stop emails and post-cards in the mail to "update my Alumni profile" so that my information could be valid so people can contact me and know what I am doing. All the information would be updated into a big "Alumni Directory" or something like that. The thing that I find questionable is that both the emails and post-cards say that I can only do it over the phone - not email not postal mail. Additionally this service is being provided not by the University but by a third party commercial service. Reality check: if I can only update my address, my employment status and other very private tidbits of my life into a directory by a company, then I would think (I maybe wrong) that their sole purpose is to sell me access to this directory. Well, thanks, but no thanks.

I would think that these types of services are things of the past. If you open an account with Facebook, Friendster, Orkut or any of the million other "social networking" sites you can find almost everyone you ever knew. Only the "John Smith's" might be a little tricky. So for all the people who buy into this, I hope its worth your time.

I still believe that if people wanted to be in touch with me, then they would be. I don't need someone else to facilitate that for me.