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From: gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore)
Newsgroups: misc.wanted,comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: Wanted - UUCP for MS-DOS
Message-ID: <1669@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Fri, 16-Jan-87 07:44:58 EST
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.1669
Posted: Fri Jan 16 07:44:58 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Jan-87 04:06:41 EST
References: <228@hqda-ai.UUCP> <904@mhuxi.UUCP> <1607@hoptoad.uucp> <906@mhuxi.UUCP>
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Xref: mnetor misc.wanted:430 comp.mail.uucp:144

>       If anyone has ever run a BBS they will find out quickly why you
>       can't leave it open. You get tired of Donald Duck, Goofy and the
>       the elfs leaving obsene messages or credit card numbers and info.
>       The best are the neat little trojan horses which attempt to wipe
>       out the BBS or the hard disk of the unsuspecting person who calls
>       the totally open BBS and downloads that little jewel.
>  -- Rick Tillbrook

I personally ran the PCNet ABBS system in San Francisco from about 1980-82.
It sat in my bedroom closet.  It was a fully open system.  Don't tell me
what it's like being a SYSOP.

All the flamage I see is about people logging in with pseudonyms or to
upload harmful things.  The use of pseudonyms is utterly legal and is
acceptable throughout society as a means of privacy protection (e.g. for
authors or people in the public eye) but these guys have trouble with it.
And I didn't want permission to upload a harmful program, I just wanted
to read what was already uploaded by an "approved" user.

My main point is that people should be able to access the information
on the system without going through any rigamarole.  I'm not saying
that you should let people *insert* information into the system --
though even on the system in question, anyone can post or read a
*message*, they just can't post or read a *piece of software*.  Whether
people can post is a local policy decision.  But they should be able to
read without hassle.

If you don't let outsiders do anything useful, why advertise the phone
number at all?  Just give it out to your friends.  But don't claim to be
a public access BBS.
-- 
John Gilmore  {sun,ptsfa,lll-crg,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu   gnu@ingres.berkeley.edu
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