Re: [ga] Proposal for mailing list policy

["William X. Walsh" <william@dso.net>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


Very well said, Kent.  Let me add my voice of support for your comments here. 


On 15-Jan-2000 Kent Crispin wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 14, 2000 at 11:25:30PM -0600, John B. Reynolds wrote:
>> >
>> > But indeed they do.  And in FACT we have seen it be the case on
>> > this very list.
>> >
>> 
>> False.  All that has been asserted is that certain individuals and groups
>> choose not to participate in the list due to the presence of those who you
>> would "filter".
> 
> It's not false, it is a fact.  I have received private mail from people
> who won't post to the list because they don't want themselves
> immortalized in a bit of Baptista doggerel smut. 
> 
>> Nobody has prevented them from contributing - their
>> nonparticipation is a consequence of their own decisions.
> 
> You have a city park full of pimps, prostitutes, street gangs, and drug
> addicts.  Nobody has prevented people from letting their children play
> there -- it's a consequence of their own decisions...
> 
> It may not fit with your idealistic view, but it is a cold fact that
> Baptista, Williams, et al, are chasing people away.  We are left with a
> situation where we are making our forum safe for thugs and lunatics, but
> others leave because they don't want to deal with thugs and lunatics. 
> Your answer to this is "if somebody is bothered by thugs and lunatics,
> and they can't or won't learn to use filters, then they can leave." That
> is, you are willing to trade gentle, well-mannered people for thugs and
> lunatics. 
> 
> You can't have it both ways -- you can't have the GA list be an open
> forum that allows verbal pornographic assault, and at the same time have
> it be a place where intelligent discussion of domain name issues among
> the necessary interested parties takes place.  That really is the 
> choice.
> 
> What you, Karl, Froomkin, and others want an easy way out -- a nice
> technical solution that absolves everyone of any responsibility.  But
> that's not possible.  In fact there are genuine conflicts in individual
> freedoms, and we have to choose who we are going to deny freedoms for,
> and what freedoms we are going to deny; we all have to take
> responsibility for those choices, and we have to be constantly watching
> to be sure that abuses don't develop.  That's what it means when you say
> "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance". 
> 
> -- 
> Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
> kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain

- --
William X. Walsh <william@dso.net>
DSo Networks  http://dso.net/
Fax: 877-860-5412 or +1-559-851-9192
GPG/PGP Key at http://dso.net/wwalsh.gpg
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.1 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: DSo Networks

iD8DBQE4gDxH8zLmV94Pz+IRAjKbAKDLpZdSoASi/5EBIGjubPGgjYOF4gCgvo8j
lkwZcc8ItIuhLj7r6sntDYQ=
=gYX4
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----