From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:CAD:teklabs!tekcrd!tekcad!franka
Newsgroups: net.general
Title: Re: Flame on Debating - (nf)
Article-I.D.: tekcad.255
Posted: Sat Nov  6 01:38:45 1982
Received: Tue Nov  9 08:40:01 1982

#R:azure:-144200:tekcad:1800003:000:2204
tekcad!franka    Nov  6 01:38:00 1982

	Well, anyway, about my response on azure!curts note on wishing to
be warned about that evil of the airwaves, debate on the net. He says that
he doesn't mind people debating topics, but he reserves the right to walk
away. That's fine. But asking people to put in their headers a message to
the affect that this is a debate is going a bit too far. When he encounters
people discussing something in public, does he go up to them and ask them
to hang signs around their necks saying, "I am involved in a debate which
you may not want to listen in on?"
	The net is an open forum for free discussion of ideas and topics
of the day (and even technical issues at times). I suggest that anyone who
cares to eavesdrop on public conversation deserves what he gets. Perhaps
he feels that paging through a few notes of worthless debates is a horrible
waste of his time (how long does it take the tty driver to write out a page
anyway, 10-15 seconds, even at 1200 baud). If that is true, maybe he should
limit his .newsrc file to let through only the purely technical groups such
as net.uucp, net.unix-wizards, etc.
	Lets face it folks, the net is probably only 30% technical content
at most. If you were THAT concerned about your time, you would appoint a
full time news censor to screen articles and have the uucp-joined organi-
zations contribute to his salary (it would probably only cost each organi-
zation pennies a day and save a hell of a lot in phone charges). If you
want a truly open net, then be prepared to pay the price. Personally, I
could care less about the technical content of the net (what do I care if
some Bozo from Indian Hill wants a driver for their RK07). I feel that the
subscription of my company to the net is a personal benefit in the same
vein as an insurance or pension plan. I really don't see a technical
benefit to most people on the net except to the hard core unix-wizards
out there.
	Well, I think I've flamed enough for one night. I'm sorry if I
have taken up so much of your VALUBLE technically fufilled time.
				Wishing that the people who worried
				about flames on the net would go join
				a boring net like CSnet,
				Frank A. Adrian
				(decvax!teklabs!tekcad!franka)