Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!jack
From: jack@cwi.nl (Jack Jansen)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Who Controls The Network?
Message-ID: <7820@boring.cwi.nl>
Date: 11 Jan 89 22:17:14 GMT
References: <2114@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
Sender: news@cwi.nl
Organization: AMOEBA project, CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 34

In article <2114@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk> nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor) writes:
>
>Create a system whereby people can have their access suspended by popular
>demand. An automated voting system could be instituted which would accept
>nominations for suspension and votes for and against. If the votes for minus
>the votes against exceed some number (which should be some proportion of those
>who could have been adversely affected by the defendent's activities) then
>the defendent should be suspended. The defendent should be given one final
>opportunity to defend himself (in case his supporters had not realised how
>seriously others were treating the issue) and if the result still held the
>suspension would be implemented. [Comments?]

I like the scheme! A few points, though:
- The majority needed to remove someone from a group should probably
  be *very* big. Unanimous is probably asking too much, but it should
  be close, I think.
- I think it is important to gradually introduce newcomers, in stead
  of letting them ask the wrong questions in the wrong groups on their
  first day, thereby making a fool of themselves, and starting a flame
  war between people who joined last week ("He shouldn't have sent that").

  Maybe something where your first few postings are automatically given
  a smaller distribution, or where the message is sent to a random
  old-timer (or a few of them) for approval?

- Equally important, it should be possible for everyone to create a
  new newsgroup. This might be next-to-impossible in the current scheme,
  but if we start throwing people out of newsgroups we should at least give
  them a chance to convene with people of like mind.

-- 
--
Fight war, not wars			| Jack Jansen, jack@cwi.nl
Destroy power, not people! -- Crass	| (or mcvax!jack)