Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nuchat!sugar!ficc!karl
From: karl@ficc.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: The lay of the land (was Re: sci.aquaria)
Keywords: non-fish
Message-ID: <7098@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 24 Nov 89 17:26:57 GMT
References: <712@calmasd.Prime.COM> <3013@com50.C2S.MN.ORG>
Reply-To: karl@ficc.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer)
Organization: Ferranti International Controls
Lines: 20

In article <3013@com50.C2S.MN.ORG> craig@com2serv.c2s.mn.org (Craig S. Wilson) writes:
>What this points out is that the Usenet is really akin to a feudal
>landscape dotted with cities and keeps run by the systems
>administrators.  No democracy. No anarchy.

>Put into this light, I don't understand why the "democracy deception"
>should continue to be perpetrated.  It just does a disservice to those
>poor souls who believe democracy exists.  [there was a 1/2 smiley -- kl]

Tim Maroney was the first person I ever saw to point this out.  He said (as
I recall) that it is anarchy among the sysadmins, but feudal for the users.

One thing, though, where to be a feudal baron in times past was largely a
hereditary thing, here on Usenet all you have to do to become a baron is
score a 3B1 or a PC and a newsfeed.  Also I suppose that in times past the
existing barons worked really hard to keep each other down and to keep others
from becoming bigshots.  Here it's still pretty easy to find help.
-- 
-- uunet!ficc!karl	"The last thing one knows in constructing a work 
			 is what to put first."  -- Pascal