Xref: utzoo news.admin:3415 alt.flame:2675 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!rwc102 From: RWC102@PSUVM (R. W. F. Clark) Newsgroups: news.admin,alt.flame Subject: Re: A solution to the dilemma Keywords: Lysergic lemonade Message-ID: <53998RWC102@PSUVM> Date: 19 Sep 88 23:38:37 GMT References: <6817@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> <6818@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> Followup-To: news.admin Organization: Syd Barrett Cabal, the Harlequinade, and the Hell Club Lines: 31 In <6818@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>, jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) writes: [Program to cancel all portal files deleted] This is a very bad idea. In doing this, one destroys Patrick_Townson's insightful and well-written articles, and prevents the responsible portal users from posting. I suggest that the problem be handled on an individual basis. If an admin receives immense complaints concerning a particular user, they should remove that user. This is likely to be much more difficult than simply cancelling all the articles from a node, which is why I can understand that Mr. Haugh wishes to implement in this fashion. However, censoring users such as Patrick_Townson, Isaac_K_Rabinovitch, and even John_Wasser_Thomason because of the depredations of perhaps under ten imbeciles is unforgivable. I objected to the removal of Eric Mading last year, sparking an extensive debate on this topic. Though I stated explicitly in my article that my point had nothing to do with First Amendment rights, but with the perpetuation of an ill precedent, there were still those who accused me of defending First Amendment rights on the net. If people are free to remove such a relatively inoffensive poster as Wasser, or even a valuable poster such as Patrick_Townson, then not even a site admin is safe from arbitrary removal. I hope you will not run this program. ------- BITNET: RWC102@psuvm.BITNET R W F Clark/GFC Gang/Port Atherton