How do you manage multiple /etc/passwd files?

[guy at gorodish.UUCP]

In article <364 at boulder.UUCP> cdash at nike.UUCP (Charles Shub) writes:
>In article <286 at desoto.UUCP> shz at desoto.UUCP (S. Zirin) writes:
>>In <2253 at felix.UUCP> zemon writes:
>>
>>> <request>
>>>
>><response>
>
>zemon's response to zirin's timely request is non-productive.

Zemon's response to Zirin's request is non-*existent*, as is Zirin's
request.  Zirin's response to Zemon's request is what is in question
here.

Was this just a slip of the mind, or do the attribution lines stuck
in (with the best of intentions, I'm sure) by various netnews
programs possibly cause more problems than they're worth?  (I
*always* delete them, simply to avoid this kind of problem.)