Odd. Many gas stations here do just that. Pump is open. You drive up, put gas in. Then pay the amount indicated. If you drive away without paying, you can't say the pump was open to anyone. Sure, the credit card before you pump is more secure because its harder to drive away without paying. I would love such a capability (usefully deployed) in sendmail...or qmail. Its just not there, or hasn't been there.
But I agree that argument by analogy is generally not too useful. Seems no one is ever convinced they are wrong upon discovering that their analogy doesn't actually support their argument.
--Dean
Around 07:17 PM 11/23/1999 +1000, rumor has it that Bruce Campbell said: