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From: amanda@intercon.uu.net (Amanda Walker)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: In Moderation
Message-ID: <1166@intercon.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jul 89 16:05:35 GMT
References: <24B8D053.19561@ateng.com> <24AF7C38.8967@ateng.com> <24A91A67.28396@ateng.com> <3300@epimass.EPI.COM> <197600001@inmet> <14403@bfmny0.UUCP> <3749@viscous.sco.COM> <29-Jun-89.175917@192.41.214.248> <1149@intercon.UUCP> <14219@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <24B4C
Sender: news@intercon.UUCP
Reply-To: amanda@intercon.uu.net (Amanda Walker)
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation
Lines: 37

In article <24B8D053.19561@ateng.com>, chip@ateng.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
> Perhaps there is no legal way for IMN to make money.  Aww, too bad.

I don't think that "legality" enters into it, particularly.  Usenet is
unregulated, and has no controls beyond some very fuzzy conventions that
we all try to adhere to in order to keep things running.  This is, if
anything is, "the spirit of Usenet."  This lack of regulation has its
good points and its bad points, but when you get right down to it, Usenet
is not a medium of publication; it is a very informal cooperative venture
between a bunch of people and organizations that have computers.

This very informality, which has kept Usenet alive for far longer than a
lot of people would have thought (cf. the perennial "Imminent Death Of The
Net" predictions, of which this is just the latest variation), also means
that people will disagree about what the operating conventions are or should
be.

If you don't like what Geoff is doing, it seems to me that the thing to do
is not to threaten him with legal complications or to scream "censorship."
The thing to do is simply not to let him play.  Refuse to give him news feeds.
Refuse to forward mail to & from his site.  Whatever.  But also realize that
there are enough people that disagree that you will never be able to enforce
a boycott net-wide.  If it's not worth his time and effort, he won't bother
with IMN.  If it is, he will.  Sort of like Usenet on a smaller scale...
Funny how that works, eh?

Being offended won't get you anywhere, as has been proven on the net many
times over.  If you don't like it, do something about it.  Just please stop
whining that "someone should do something."  You are Usenet.  If you don't
like something, fix it.  If it's hard to fix, well, maybe that's why no one
has done it already.

--
Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
--
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