Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!ames!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!mcnc!ecsvax!skyler
From: skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Patricia Roberts)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Purposes of group
Message-ID: <5598@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Date: 14 Oct 88 20:10:05 GMT
References: <6798@ig.ig.com> <312@fsc2086.UUCP> <10639@netsys.COM>
Reply-To: skyler@ecsvax.UUCP (Patricia Roberts)
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 29

In article <10639@netsys.COM> len@netsys.COM (Len Rose) writes:
>This is why having an arrangement in the software so that only
>news administrators could post to news.admin would be beneficial.

In my profession, we say this sentences suffers from a pronoun
reference problem.  I assume the "this" refers to stupid or inflam-
matory postings?  Or something along those lines?

If so, Len Rose is assuming that news administrators never make
those kinds of postings and that net.plebes always do.  That's a
highly problematic assumption.

One kind of article which is guaranteed to provoke a flame war is
the X's-account-should-be-pulled or let's-send-nasty-mail-here
article.  Someone who is the subject of that kind of article _must_
be given the right to reply--whether it be jj@portal or Gene Spafford.
Some of those kinds of accusations are fair and some are completely
unfounded.  And some of the unfounded accusations have come from
system administrators.

(Am I the only one who senses an analogy to the soc.women.only
debate?)


-- 
====================================================================
-Trish 					"...a lifetime is too narrow 
skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu		too understand it all..."
	  						--A. Rich