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From: mesard@bbn.com (Wayne Mesard)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: Give it up, folks
Message-ID: <48306@bbn.COM>
Date: 16 Nov 89 01:43:16 GMT
References: <127928@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Sender: news@bbn.COM
Reply-To: mesard@BBN.COM (Wayne Mesard)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Lines: 24

williamt@sun.UUCP (William A. Turnbow) writes:
>In article <36505@apple.Apple.COM> chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>>a general strong negative
>>feeling from the network is a warning flag that something's wrong.
>-------------
>

>To use a variant on a previous
>example.  If we have 100 <insert unpopular minority (UM)>, and 1000
>mainstream WASPS, if the 100 want to form a newsgroup, then the 1000
>can probably pretty easily block that simply because they don't like
>the UM.  Is that fair to the UM?  Is that right?

But the net has not, historically, operated that way.  When _a_lot_ of
NO votes have come in, it's almost always been attributable to concern
over a particular aspect of the proposal as opposed to a prejudicial
attitude towards the groups proponents.

We must protect minority's interest from the tyranny of the majority.
But be mindful that any yahoo can garner n hundred YES votes given
sufficient motiviation.

-- 
void *Wayne_Mesard();         Mesard@BBN.COM         BBN, Cambridge, MA