Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!uokmax!jeffm
From: jeffm@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jeff Medcalf)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: To be or not to be anarchy (was Re: Results of sci.aquaria vote)
Message-ID: <1989Dec1.000318.17197@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>
Date: 1 Dec 89 00:03:18 GMT
References: <2903@viper.Lynx.MN.Org> <528@panix.UUCP> <36510@apple.Apple.COM> <1989Nov24.224754.5657@everexn.uucp>
Reply-To: jeffm@uokmax.UUCP (Jeff Medcalf)
Organization: No, it isn't really.  (University of Oklahoma, ECN)
Lines: 79

In article <1989Nov24.224754.5657@everexn.uucp> karen@everexn.uucp (Karen Valentino) writes:
>
>>Of course, the thought that "he who pays the bills calls the shot" went over
>>like a lead baloon with those who like getting USENET services for free...
>
>The idea of having my sysadmin call the shots definitely goes over like
>a lead balloon with *me*, though not for your stated reason. 

Hmmm...  I think that if I lived in someone else's house, and he decided that
there would be no smoking in the house, that I would not smoke in his house.
If he decided that I had to walk around the house naked, I would move out.

It isn't *your* system.  If the sysadmin is not the system's owner, he is the
analog of a landlord.  He can decide "no smoking" or no sci.aquaria or whatever
the hell he pleases subject to the wishes of the owner.

If you don't like it, buy your own system, or get someone to hire you as a
sysadmin.

>Your statement leads me to the question, "Is Usenet or is it not an
>anarchy?"  In an anarchy, which is what Usenet is supposed to be, 
>decisions are reached by consensus, and everyone has a voice.  Do you 
>wish Usenet to remain one?  

Usenet is an anarchy in that anyone can create a newsgroup.  Anyone can remove
a newsgroup.  War, pestilence, and famine.  Sure everyone has a voice.  Sure
everyone has a right to ignore anyone else's voice.

In an anarchy, decisions are made by the individual or group who acts.  The
sheep who only follow are not part of the loop.  Those who stand on the
lines and bitch are not truly part of the loop, unless they influence someone
who takes action.

An individual site is not an anarchy, however, it is an elitest autocracy.
On uokmax, the site at which I work, there are three classes of employee
(ok, more, but 3 for the purposes of this article):  software consultant,
student programmer, and student assistant.  Student assistants help the
users with problems that they may have, and are a buffer between users and
the programmers.

Student programmers do whatever is assigned them by the software consultants,
and also things which the users need that requires root access (file recovery,
account maintenance, etc.).  The software consultants can decide whatever they
wish, and can carry out such decisions subject only to their own conscience and
the will of the Manager, who acts on the University's behalf.

If Rob, the consultant responsible for networking and such, decides that 
sci.aquaria will not exist here, it will not.

Fortunately, the people in charge here are benevolent dictators, and do not
abuse thier powers.

>I have great respect for my sysadmin.  However, he is not my voice.
>(Thank goodness, he doesn't want to *be* my voice, either.)  

But he has the power to control how and if your voice leaves his site.

>To be, or not to be, anarchy? 

Not much can be done to change the structure of an individual site, so
it does not seem to matter in the end how the newsgroups are voted on.

>As for government by representation and benevolent dictatorship, 
>I'm against it.  

So buy your own system, and let your users tell you what to do! :-)

>I want to vote--directly.

Fine, vote.  But not everyone is going to listen to you.

>Karen


-- 
Jeff Medcalf	 jeffm@uokmax.{uucp|ecn.uoknor.edu}    !chinet!uokmax!jeffm
BoB smokes *my* pipe!   Completely and totally eliminate repetitive redundancy.
In 1869, the waffle iron was invented, thus solving the annoying tendency of
waffles to wrinkle in the dryer.    THIS IS YOUR LAST DAY TO SEND $1.00!!!!!!


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