Xref: utzoo comp.mail.misc:1441 news.admin:4152 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!mcnc!ecsvax!bch From: bch@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Byron C. Howes) Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,news.admin Subject: Re: Misuse of email privileges (Was: Re: bigoted racist misuse of email) Keywords: email Message-ID: <5932@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> Date: 2 Dec 88 18:07:28 GMT References: <10676@ihlpa.ATT.COM> <11242@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <5917@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> <2295@ddsw1.MCS.COM> Reply-To: bch@ecsvax.UUCP (Byron C. Howes) Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service Lines: 34 In article <2295@ddsw1.MCS.COM> karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM(Karl Denninger) writes: >If it gets out of hand (only once) I email to the sysadmin of the site which >originated the mail. Who knows whether anything was done -- the attacks >ceased, and that was all that I wanted accomplished. As a system administrator, I feel this is the most appropriate initial response to abusive email. If a user of a system I am responsible for is sending abusive material, I want to be the first to know about it so I can protect the reputation of my organization and the 600 or so other users who make use of our facilities. Similarly, if a user on one of our systems receives abusive or threatening email I'd want to be the first to know about it so I could trace the problem down and deal with it. Going public and posting the offensive mail breaks more things than it fixes in that it effectively prevents the authorities from doing their job. Further, it stirs already troubled waters to a point where no productive goals can be realized. >Can anyone besides myself see an intentional pattern of escalation here, >rather than an attempt to solve the problem at hand? Yes, and I think it should be cause for concern on all sides of the question. In the name of claiming the moral high ground we are threatening the thing we're trying to preserve. --Byron -- Byron C. Howes Computer Systems Manager bch@uncecs.edu UNC Educational Computing Service