Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pacbell!att!chinet!rissa From: rissa@chinet.UUCP (Patricia O Tuama) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: A SERIOUS DILEMMA FOR THE NET Message-ID: <6640@chinet.UUCP> Date: 20 Sep 88 18:16:53 GMT References: <1566@eos.UUCP> Organization: Eniac Ink Lines: 50 In article <1566@eos.UUCP> timelord@eos.UUCP (G. Murdock Helms) writes: >There has recently been a tendency towards suppression on the net that is >chilling in its implications. I am referring specifically to the removal >of at least one person's net access, perhaps even his account, due to >several complaints about his postings. [...] > The point is: someone was able to convince >the sysadmin of that machine to remove a user who had not done anything >explicitly 'wrong'. In the first place, it wasn't a "someone" who was able to convince the sysadmin of that machine, it was a whole bunch of "someones." Secondly, our group posting did not advocate that the portal.people be suppressed or censored. We simply suggested that portal.admin require their users to put their real names in their postings. >The rule in social interaction that applies here is: If you have a problem >with an account, machine, or newsgroup, then it is YOUR problem, not the >entire world's, and therefore you alone must solve it. That may mean the >creation of a kill file, or the exercising of patience, but it still remains >*your* problem. On an individual basis perhaps, certainly it depends on the circumstances. But if a student at a particular university insists on posting his termcap to the net, not just once but twice, then I think that sort of behavior affects the net at large and not just the individual user. > People of any age younger than yourself have a desire >to be treated as an equal. In working with them, greater progress is made >with helpful comments and suggestions than with a slow roast over spiteful >and degrading flames. A simple, *polite* mail message to an 'offender' >suggesting how to access the manual pages on news readers, and how to edit >a posting for inclusion in a followup should suffice to fix the problem. Several people tried this with no success. Furthermore, although there are a few under-age portal.people around, I think it's pretty obvious that the worst offenders are actually youths in their late teens or early 20's who have made it quite apparent that they care very little about accessing manual pages or editing postings for inclusion. >As you may note, my login is not my real name. My name listing is not >my real name either. The fact that I possess the ability to change my >'name' at whim has not in any manner influenced me to post irresponsibly. Well, quite personally, "Murdock," I don't think *anyone* including you should be posting to the net unless his or her real name appears in either the headers or in a .signature file. But since you brought it up, why don't you use your real name?