Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!mailrus!ncar!ames!elroy!gryphon!oleg
From: oleg@gryphon.CTS.COM (Oleg Kiselev)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: disgusting slime (was Re: A SERIOUS DILEMMA FOR THE NET)
Message-ID: <7203@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 22 Sep 88 23:36:35 GMT
References: <265@sulaco.UUCP> <5572@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <267@sulaco.UUCP> <3144@utastro.UUCP> <2595@csccat.UUCP>
Reply-To: oleg@gryphon.CTS.COM (Oleg Kiselev)
Organization: HASA
Lines: 36

In article <2595@csccat.UUCP> loci@csccat.UUCP (Chuck Brunow) writes:
>	Several months ago I posted a call to the net to set minimum
>	standards for language and conduct and to take the responsibility
>	for enforcing them. 

Such "standards" will violate the basic freedom of speech previously enjoyed
by the NET.  In the last 4.5 years I have been on the NET news groups have
been able to establish their own conduct and language guidelines and have
managed to deal with the unavoidable periodic disruptions caused by new users
and hot tempers.  

>	Now, I take that to mean that the Usenet policy is "reader beware"
>	and that any sort of obnoxious behavior will be tolerated.

There are a number of tools available to the USENET users to allow them to
skip articles from or in reply to the offending users.  More often than not,
the problems go away by themselves.

>	I don't know whether they got their methods from Joe McCarthy
>	or Adolf Hitler; both had a similar disregard for others,
>	but the bad part is that they're allowed to continue.

Speaking of Hitler -- there is a censorship mechanism built into the NET.  
A system administrator can disallow postings from certain users or may limit
their NET access to certain groups.  This kind of police action should not be
delegated to anyone other than the sys admin of the site where the person in
question posts.  

Don't play "NET.god" or the "NET.conscience" when you have
neither the power nor the talent for either role.
-- 
Oleg Kiselev            "No regrets, no apologies" -- Ronald Reagan
(213)337-5230           ARPA: lcc.oleg@seas.ucla.edu, oleg@gryphon.cts.com
                        UUCP:...!ucla-cs!lcc!oleg
Copyright 1988 by Oleg Kiselev. All rights reserved. 
Quoting is allowed only if attributed.