From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!trb
Newsgroups: net.singles
Title: Re: Gordon
Article-I.D.: floyd.765
Posted: Thu Nov  4 10:52:26 1982
Received: Fri Nov  5 03:32:15 1982
References: watdaisy.21

I have read the followup netnews to the Ellen and Gordon episode; it
seems that some people (let's call them the "insensitive ones")
chastised Ellen for spewing in public, and some people (the "sensitive
ones") chastised the insensitive chastisers for not considering Ellen's
feelings.

I count myself among those whom the majority has called "insensitive."
I thought that Ellen's piece was in bad taste and reflected poorly on
her and left me with the impression that she was not so much a hateful
person as a person with poor judgement and lack of self-control - a
childish person.

A public forum is NOT the place for such hateful drivel as came from
Ellen.  The fact that she needed a place to turn was no excuse for her
to turn to netnews.  Netnews is a fine place to direct your wrath if
the message involves factual information that doesn't consist of hate
directed at a personal enemy and will be of benefit to the masses.  We
complain about the government, its laws, mass media, UNIX, etc.,
because we seek to improve them, not to defame them.

If Ellen has no friends and needed someone to talk to, there are
hundreds of names flying by her screen in netnews.  Many of these names
have sensitive people behind them.  She might have gotten such an
impression by reading their contributions and she could have sent some
individual a personal note.  I have gotten "desparate" mail of this
type before; some people just need someone to talk to, and an
electronic "pen pal" is safe, because odds are that if it doesn't work
out, it's no problem.

Electronic mail and netnews are fine media.  They are feasible at this
low cost and at this time because people use them responsibly.  ANYONE
can start flooding the net with junk data, rendering it essentially
useless.  Anyone can poison the net in other ways.  Electronic
communications media CAN be protected against such violations, but not
without a great deal of time and expense.

Netnews works well if we act responsibly, and it's been an extremely
useful tool for me.  Please use it responsibly.

	Andy Tannenbaum   Bell Labs  Whippany, NJ   (201) 386-6491