From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!alice!physics!gill Newsgroups: net.news Title: Perhaps a solution to net.jokes: - (nf) Article-I.D.: physics.178 Posted: Thu Sep 2 02:31:24 1982 Received: Sun Sep 5 05:17:25 1982 #N:physics:18700003:000:2241 physics!gill Sep 2 02:26:00 1982 After "consulting" with some "collegues" (i.e. flaming at length via uucp mail throughout the night), I would like to propose the following as a solution to the obscene/degrading joke uproar: Three news groups should be partially created: jokes.g for safe jokes (as in G rated "take the kids" films) jokes.x for obscene jokes (as in X rated films) jokes.d for degrading jokes (as in class D movies) These groups should not be created in the normal fashion. Instead, they would only be created by a specific systems administrator on his/her own system. I don't believe many outside BTL systems have btl.X groups on their system. The jokes.X network would work the same way. Since jokes.X is not part of the standard netnews release, the default state would be no jokes at all. I hope net.jokes continues to exist, but if it doesn't, jokes.X will be there. The forwarding and acceptance of messages in this group will also be system specific. As this "other" network topology will not be simply one of connecting to any present netnews system, a map keeper may be needed for these groups. If no one else does, I volunteer for jokes.x. Until someone does some hacking, it will proabably be necessary to have human "connectors" for each of these three groups. These news groups will not officially be part of usenet. The use of usenet programs to read/write and route these groups will be the sole responsibility of each individual system. Besides sharing common utility programs, they will not be part of the same network. I would like to propose the regualr net contain the meta-group net.link, which will carry announcements of new ways to link up to the "alternative" networks (the name "link" doesn't only mean that, you know ...). This should be harmless enough. I don't think this is hard to implement, given the example of how the btl.XXX network exists intertwined with the net.XXX network. Comments? Gill Pratt ...alice!gill OR gill@mc p.s. I would propose that attempts at central administration and censorship be banned in the jokes.X charter. Though I had originally resigned myself to withdrawng from a censored network, it seems there is another way to squirm out from under the forshadowed beurocracy.