Errm... XNews strongly discourages cross-posting when replying, and
that's a pretty popular program. There are more newsreaders in heaven
and on earth then perhaps are dreamed of in your philosophy, Pete. : )

That said, I prefer to leave cross-post newsgroups intact unless it's
an obvious mismatch. For example, I've seen posts to space groups that
were cross-posted to alt.test or alt.sex.barney.duct-tape and whatnot
or even *.callahans, where people are just trying to flood a newsgroup
with traffic.

A well judged pruning of x-post newsgroups is fine, it's the wholesale
clearcutting that's the problem.

Ben Hallert
PP-ASEL