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From: robinson@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: Why the Rhonda existence question matters.
Message-ID: <21907@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sun, 22-Nov-87 18:19:19 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.21907
Posted: Sun Nov 22 18:19:19 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Nov-87 07:23:57 EST
References: <5980@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <1875@chinet.UUCP> <6021@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: robinson@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Michael Robinson)
Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley
Lines: 39


Unfortunately, skyler completely missed the point to why it matters in the
least if Rhonda is what it says it is.

I really don't care one bit if people use pseudonyms on the net.  I wouldn't 
care if Richard Nixon came on the net masquerading as Betty Boop.  Like Meg
said, it's just not an issue.

This is not a question of who accused who of saying what about whom.  This
is not a matter of "I'm real so I'm a better person than you."

The real identity of the author of the Rhonda articles is only a concern to me,
and, I would surmise, only a concern to the net at large, to the extent that 
it indicates that author's true intentions.

Rhonda has engaged in activities on the net which almost all would agree have
been disruptive to some extent.  I admit that disruptive behavior is an age old
Usenet tradition, however it is usually tolerated under the assumption that the
disruption is not intentional, and that the party in question is acting in good 
faith.

Now, were the author of the Rhonda articles shown to be male, that information,
in conjuction with a number of Rhonda's activities (such as the recent
disruption of the private feminist mailing list), would convince me, and I
suspect others, that Rhonda's sole raison d'etre is to act as a net agent 
provocateur.

The intentional and systematic disruption of Usenet discussion in any group
is a serious issue, and, I would gather, of more general interest to the
Usenet community than who said what about whom.

If The Rhonda Manifestation exists only as someone's tool of disruption, and
as part of a calculated attack on specific discussion groups, I, personally,
would like to know.


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Michael Robinson                              USENET:  ucbvax!ernie!robinson
                                              ARPA: robinson@ernie.berkeley.edu