"It'd be a bit like responding to a poison-pen letter by sending a response with "Address Unknown" written on the envelope." -- McG of H, 20 Jan 04 - 01:30 PM

Well...perhaps the analogy would stand if one were sending a private communication.

In an open, public forum, however, an author assumes that more than one person (hopefully) will read his/her message/response. There's no need to know the address(es) of the recipient(s). People who are interested will read what you have to say...those who aren't interested, won't. In any event, it's there for everyone to see.

When opinions or thoughts or feelings are expressed, again, in an open, public forum, there's no need to know who sent the message, or the "address" of the person who sent the message: one chooses to read or not read the message; to let the message affect or not affect the reader; to agree or disagree with the opinions, thoughts, or feelings expressed, etc. In other words, one responds to what is being said, rather than who said it.

The date/time stamp serves a very useful purpose in this regard: it pinpoints exactly what one is responding to, regardless who said it.