allen@sulaco.UUCP (Allen Gwinn) (09/19/88)
To the members of Usenet: Greetings. There has emerged, what I feel to be a big problem. For a couple of weeks, the net has been plagued with postings from several "entities" at the Portal System (tm) in California. The postings are made from ambiguous accounts such as "Spartan", "Hijacker", "Argent", "Ankh" etc, ad nauseum. It is my opinion that the Site Administrator's decision to let subscribers use these "handles" (and apparently change them at will) encourages some of them to post irresponsibly, and perhaps not use the best of judgement when doing it. I offer as a "for instance" the fairly recent incident of "jj@cup.portal.com" who posted a plea for money across the entire net, cross-posting to most of the newsgroups. This problem might be solved if the management at the Portal System would simply replace the "XPortal-User-Id:" line with the user's real name. This situation would perhaps force a poster to use more discretion prior to posting, knowing that his or her *real* name would be attached to the posting. If the Site Administrators at the Portal System are still uncertain as to whether or not they should implement such a thing, perhaps those of us who feel this way could help them out by assembling as complete a portfolio of these postings as possible. Then, mail them to 'postmaster@cup.portal.com' along with your comments as to why you feel the postings are inappropriate. This will aid their staff in resolving the problem by presenting them with *complete* first-hand evidence. I thank you, and Usenet thanks you... -- Allen Gwinn ...sulaco!allen Disclaimer: The facts stated are my own. "At the source of every error blamed on a computer you will find at least two errors...including the error of blaming it on the computer."
dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) (09/19/88)
Could someone fill me in on what some of these "Portal" folks have done? Other than the "JJ/Rob Noha" episode, I've either been oblivious to their malfeasance given the general state of USENET, or I'm not reading the right newsgroups. In any event, this "letter campaign" seems more than a little bit disingenuous. Gad, the alt. groups are being polluted by being lowered to the level of 15 year olds. Geez, what's a year between friends? -- Steve Dyer dyer@harvard.harvard.edu dyer@spdcc.COM aka {harvard,husc6,linus,ima,bbn,m2c,mipseast}!spdcc!dyer
kmw@ardent.UUCP (Ken Wallich) (09/20/88)
In article <1891@spdcc.COM> dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >Could someone fill me in on what some of these "Portal" folks have done? >Other than the "JJ/Rob Noha" episode, I've either been oblivious to their >malfeasance given the general state of USENET, or I'm not reading the >right newsgroups. In any event, this "letter campaign" seems more than >a little bit disingenuous. [...] >-- >Steve Dyer I must agree. Allen Gwinn, William B. Thacker, Patricia O Tuama, Oleg Kiselev, John F. Haugh II and others write: A form letter (with some individual quips) telling us of grave problems at Portal. A form letter of protest posted to the net? Perhaps next we can post chain letters. Considering the reputation of some of the folks who appear to have authored this stuff, one wonders whether it is just a big forgery. I find it difficult to believe (although not impossible) that all of these folks suddenly lost the capacity for independent thought. I could understand individually crafted letters of concern, but not something like this. Like Steve I've also noticed no abnormally heavy abuses from Portal lately, just seems like the same noise level they usually maintain (although I must admit that '/portal/h:j' is in more than one of my local killfiles). If you have become disgusted with the level of noise on the net (like me), this doesn't seem like the most intellegent way of solving it. Have we decided that xeroxed (tm) group intimidation works better than individual discussion? Actually, considering how many of the discussions have digressed lately. Humm.... To the members of Usenet: Nawww. -- Ken Wallich Ardent Computer Corp uunet!ardent!kmw Sunnyvale, California, USA "Slimey? Mud hole? My HOME this is!"
childers@unet.pacbell.COM (Richard Childers) (09/21/88)
In article <1891@spdcc.COM> dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >Could someone fill me in on what some of these "Portal" folks have done? Could we also see something besides form letter opinions ? Every thing I've seen with the subject line defined as "A SERIOUS DILEMMA FOR THE NET" has been the same message, minus tweaks here and there, down to the char count. -- richard -- "The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, ..!{amdahl,ames,oliveb,pacbell}! The prurient ape's defiling touch: childers@chaos.unet.pacbell.COM And do you like the human race ? No, not much." -- Aldous Huxley, 'Ape And Essence'
cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Charles Daffinger) (09/21/88)
To the 'rn' question 'Are you sure you really want to do this? [ny]' I ought to really ansower `n', but what the hell..... People are bitching and moaning about the lack of a real user name given in the news postings from Portal.com, but, I seem to be confused here, as most people (including those who have participated in the form-flame) are using Unix, many even BSD unix or it's variants. Well, there is a unix command called 'chfn' which changes the 'finger' entry for the user, which is also the name which appears in article attributions. What difference is there to Unix 'chfn' to the Portal whatever it is which allows arbitrary name selection? Confused, -charles -- Charles Daffinger >Take me to the river, Drop me in the water< (812) 339-7354 cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu {pur-ee,rutgers,pyramid,ihnp4}!iuvax!cdaf Home of the Whitewater mailing list: whitewater-request@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
msb@sq.uucp (Mark Brader) (09/21/88)
> (although I must > admit that '/portal/h:j' is in more than one of my local killfiles). As of now, "/portal/a:j" is going in *my* kill file for news.admin. This, of course, kills all articles that even *mention* the p-word. [No, I'm not a news-admin at the moment. News.admin these days is just a second news.misc. No, I don't like this state of affairs.] Mark Brader, Toronto "Those who mourn for 'USENET like it was' should utzoo!sq!msb remember the original design estimates of maximum msb@sq.com traffic volume: 2 articles/day" -- Steven Bellovin
sean@aquinas.UUCP (Sean McCollister) (09/21/88)
Before attempting to remove the speck from portal's eye, perhaps we should remove the beam from our own (well, what did you expect from a guy who names his computer aquinas? :-)) Vulgar, obnoxious, vituperative postings filled with name-calling, threats and ad-hominem attacks are commonplace. Who can blame the "Portalets" for trying to fit in? This would seem to be a good time for all of us to take a few minutes and read through "news.announce.newusers" one more time. PEOPLE read, and post to, the net. People will inevitably have disagreements. If they can't be resolved, shall we not politely "agree to disagree," and leave it at that? Why carry on like a bunch of schoolyard bullies? Why? <EOS>* ______________________________________________________________________________ * End of Sermonette sean@aquinas.UUCP or ....killer[!rpp386]!aquinas!sean
jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) (09/21/88)
In article <95@unet.pacbell.COM> childers@unet.PacBell.COM (Richard Childers) writes: >In article <1891@spdcc.COM> dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >>Could someone fill me in on what some of these "Portal" folks have done? > >Could we also see something besides form letter opinions ? Every thing I've >seen with the subject line defined as "A SERIOUS DILEMMA FOR THE NET" has >been the same message, minus tweaks here and there, down to the char count. childish you ignorant twit. you DID NOT actually check. had you actually looked at all of them you would have noticed that mine was not a cheap imitation copy of the form letter but a full blown paraphrase in the same tradition as stolen high school termpapers. HAD YOU LOOKED you would have seen this. but instead you open your asshole and insert your head. boy, you gotta get your head outa your butt. if you don't stop putting your head up your ass people will start thinking you have shit for brains. -- John F. Haugh II (jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US) HASA, "S" Division "Why waste negative entropy on comments, when you could use the same entropy to create bugs instead?" -- Steve Elias
childers@unet.pacbell.COM (Richard Childers) (09/24/88)
In article <6925@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bore) writes: >childish you ignorant twit. you DID NOT actually check. had you actually Ho, hum, this 'childish' stuff is ... well, childish, y'know ? >looked at all of them you would have noticed that mine was not a cheap >imitation copy of the form letter but a full blown paraphrase in the same You barefaced liar. They were so similar I'd have to study for longer than is worth my time to find the differences. >tradition as stolen high school termpapers. HAD YOU LOOKED you would have Speak for yourself, peckerwood. I quit high school to go to college. >seen this. but instead you open your asshole and insert your head. Ah, now we get to the intellectual substance of the communique ... >boy, you gotta get your head outa your butt. if you don't stop putting >your head up your ass people will start thinking you have shit for brains. There we go. John F. Huhhh? II at his shining, whining best. Impressive, huh ? >John F. Huhhh? II (jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US) HASA, "S" Division -- richard -- "The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, ..!{amdahl,ames,oliveb,pacbell}! The prurient ape's defiling touch: childers@chaos.unet.pacbell.COM And do you like the human race ? No, not much." -- Aldous Huxley, 'Ape And Essence'
allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery) (09/25/88)
As quoted from <105@unet.pacbell.COM> by childers@unet.pacbell.COM (Richard Childers): +--------------- | In article <6925@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bore) writes: | There we go. John F. Huhhh? II at his shining, whining best. Impressive, huh ? +--------------- Nothing like a cure that's worse than the disease, huh? At least Naha's noise had some entertainment value. ++Brandon -- Brandon S. Allbery, uunet!marque!ncoast!allbery DELPHI: ALLBERY For comp.sources.misc send mail to ncoast!sources-misc "Don't discount flying pigs before you have good air defense." -- jvh@clinet.FI
ejp@ausmelb.oz (Esmond Pitt) (10/05/88)
In article <366@pcsbst.UUCP> pcsbst!jkh@pcsbst.UUCP (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes: > > I must agree with Ken. It certainly is a problem when an entire Brilliant. So far this message has appeared 8 times, and it gets more boring every time. This appears to be deliberate: Posted: Mon Sep 26 14:56:15 1988 Posted: Mon Sep 26 14:56:15 1988 Posted: Fri Sep 30 12:16:16 1988 Posted: Fri Sep 30 16:08:22 1988 Posted: Mon Oct 3 12:48:51 1988 Posted: Mon Oct 3 13:15:05 1988 Posted: Mon Oct 3 13:19:07 1988 Posted: Mon Oct 3 18:15:45 1988 Could somebody stop the rot please. Thanks. (German thoroughness? :-)) -- Esmond Pitt, Austec International Ltd ...!uunet.UU.NET!munnari!ausmelb!ejp,ejp@ausmelb.oz
weemba@garnet.berkeley.edu (Obnoxious Math Grad Student) (10/06/88)
In article <775@ausmelb.oz>, ejp@ausmelb (Esmond Pitt) writes: >>[about Jordan Hubbard's duplicate message] >Brilliant. So far this message has appeared 8 times, and it gets more >boring every time. This appears to be deliberate: I wrote to him and asked if this was a meta-joke or not. He replied that it was not, and he has no idea why his message appeared so many times. ucbvax!garnet!weemba Matthew P Wiener/Brahms Gang/Berkeley CA 94720
jkh@pcsbst.UUCP (Jordan K. Hubbard) (10/11/88)
I must agree with Ken. It certainly is a problem when an entire organization [Portal] practically encourages net.abuse and gives voice to those who would probably be better off standing on a folding chair at Speakers Corner. This form letter, however, seems to be little more than a page torn from the same book. Granted, it's better written than the average portal prose and was probably actually run through spell before posting [grin], but it's still pretty dry reading after the 5th incarnation. Who are you trying to punish, the portal people or the rest of the net? Something most Americans don't realize (and I speak from experience) is that a lot of this stuff goes all over the world. Us expatriate American folks living abroad get a real kick out of being able to read the alt.stuff and would be very unhappy if it got yanked because of a far-too-low SNR. Once someone downstream yanks something, it's pretty hard to convince them to put it back. The Germans are stubborn that way. So, please, flame where flaming is due, but realize that every byte costs significant bucks over-all. Why not send those form letters to postmaster@portal? It seems to me that's where they'd do the most good. Better yet, talk to the sites that feed them. Perhaps the possibility of total isolation would serve as a more effective deterrent. Jordan
yelorose@juniper.uucp (Bob Mosley III) (10/13/88)
[yet another "I agree with Ken about the Portal idiots" reposting expurgated] ...anyone have an idea as to WHY this is getting reposted again? Could it be something along the lines of someone having some sort of autokill & autosend file installed? ...either way, can the sender be prevented from wasting bandwidth like this in the future? (yeah, it's the same old "Gee, how *DO* you get rid of idiots on the net?") OM
allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery) (10/14/88)
As quoted from <15057@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> by weemba@garnet.berkeley.edu (Obnoxious Math Grad Student): +--------------- | In article <775@ausmelb.oz>, ejp@ausmelb (Esmond Pitt) writes: | >>[about Jordan Hubbard's duplicate message] | | >Brilliant. So far this message has appeared 8 times, and it gets more | >boring every time. This appears to be deliberate: | | I wrote to him and asked if this was a meta-joke or not. He replied | that it was not, and he has no idea why his message appeared so many | times. +--------------- It's not the only net posting that I've seen repeated multiple times; I'd guess that someone's news system is screwed up. Did someone at HP screw up the notesfiles configuration again...? ++Brandon -- Brandon S Allbery uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery allbery%ncoast@hal.cwru.edu (LAST RESORT ONLY: allbery@uunet.uu.net) DELPHI: ALLBERY comp.sources.misc is moving off ncoast -- please do NOT send submissions direct "So many articles, so little time...." -- The Line-Eater
richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) (11/12/88)
Sorry. Comic relief from all this worm stuff. -- ``You must have an IQ of at least half a million'' -- Popeye richard@gryphon.CTS.COM {backbone...err, well connected site}!gryphon!richard
dempsey@handel.colostate.edu. (Steve Dempsey) (11/13/88)
In article <8660@gryphon.COM> richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >Sorry. Comic relief from all this worm stuff. Thanks, such relief has been long overdue. steved@longs.lance.colostate.edu ...!ncar!handel!dempsey