chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (03/29/89)
Since the whole moderator/r.h.f blowup is de-escalating much faster than expected (thanks, Karl, for cancelling the vote....) I find that the April Fools parody I'd planned on posting isn't really relevant any more. Sigh. These things happen. We'll try again some other time.... I'm going to post it here, now, because I think there's a lesson in it. The thing that really worried me about this whole conflagration was that people who normally are pretty smart were screaming for folks to come in and start regulating USENET. USENET's worked quite well as an anarchy, and the thought of adding a bureaucracy telling us 'do' and 'don't' scares me -- once you create the bureaucracy, controlling it becomes problematic. It will continue fixing problems for you, whether you want them to or not. Note: this 'parody' is not funny. Unlike many of the annual April Fools messages, it wasn't designed to be. It's hard to poke fun at a network with no sense of humor any more, but that's another posting at another time. This was aimed squarely at scaring the sh*t out of the people screaming to get rid of commercialism on the net without really thinking about what that meant. So I took a couple of days and tried to find all of the things that could plausibly be considered commercial and created a (fortunately false) bureacracy to get rid of them. The results scared me -- and I think they should scare everyone -- and taught me a good lesson about asking for things without knowing what that meant. The cautionary tale: Beware of asking for things -- you might get them. Hopefully, my next April Fools posting with have a little more levity. The r.h.f furor brought out the worst in everyone (including myself), and you can't write funny material about things that have no kernel of humor in them. The funniest thing about it was how serious everyone took it -- and all that has at the kernel is a pitiable sadness. It's *just* a network folks. See ya next April Fools... Maybe. chuq ------ [note: neither Gene, nor Greg, nor Rick had *anything* to do with this. Don't send them mail about it....] > Path: nsc!amdahl!walldrug!eminus!bloombeacon!hoa!uct!backbone > From: admins@utc.usenet.org (Usenet Community Trust Administration) > Newsgroups: news.announce.important,news.admin > Followup-To: news.admin > Subject: Commercialism on the net > Message-ID: <4-1-1989@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> > Date: 1 Apr 89 00:00:00 GMT > Expires: 1 May 89 00:00:00 GMT > Organization: Usenet Community Trust, In. (A non-profit organization) > Lines: 27 > Approved: admins@utc.usenet.org We of the backbone cabal have been following the commercialism of USENET discussion with growing apprehension. Originally, we felt that, like most USENET flame-wars, it would burn itself out over time. Unfortunately, tempers continue to heat up and the argument itself continues to grow. At the current time, the volume in the anti-commercialism discussion now significantly exceeds the volume of all of the material that could potentially be described as commercial. We have never, not even during the infamous Wobegon Wars, seen an argument blown so totally out of proportion. We had hoped this would resolve itself without our intervention. The backbone feels strongly that a hands-off policy is the best. However, this discussion has started to tax our disk capacities, our data transfer links, our budgets and, frankly, our patience. Because of this, and because we feel the emnity being generated by this argument may be destructive to the basic fabric of USENET, we have decided to take steps to stop this discussion. Effective immediately, the Backbone Cabal will no longer forward any message discussing the commercialism of the net. It is obvious from the discussions that there is a mandate from the users of USENET to do something about the commercialism on USENET. You want someone who can protect the net from the subversive forces of blatant commercialism. The backbone has the organization in place to organize the controls needed to implement these protections. Therefore, the members of the backbone have decided the time has come to build a centralized organization with the purpose of monitoring and controlling the material posted to USENET so that the proper purposes of USENET are served. To this end, we have identified all of the improper postings being made to USENET and, effective today, started to implement a plan to repair these problems. Once we finish implementing these new restrictions, we believe that we will finally have the non-commercial, unbiased and free-spoken USENET you have mandated us to give you. The net will finally be free of the commercial fetters that have held it back, and the users will finally be able to use USENET for anything they want to use it for, without the specter of commercial abuse. We feel that the implementation of this will significantly increase the freedom of expression on USENET by limiting our discussions to more appropriate topics and removing the crass commercialism and vendor interference that inhibits free discussion of ideas. In addition, the addition of these controls will significantly improve our ability to reduce future problems, as the backbone now have the bureaucracy and controls in place to stop inappropriate discussions before they get out of control and contaminate the network. Through these new restrictions and regulations, we expect USENET to prosper and grow as the new freedoms implied by these regulations allow you to better enjoy the network. You, the users -- no, the *owners* of USENET -- have given us an obvious mandate to step in and protect you from the people who would abuse and manipulate the network for their own private gains. Through these new controls, we are implementing the will of the people, restricting the inappropriate for the good of the masses. By voluntarily given up that which doesn't matter, you increase your freedoms. We are here to serve you, and by serving you we shall be able to create a better network for you. There are two phases to this. First, in the short term, all backbone sites have installed patches to the netnews software. These patches do contextual keyword searches and will refuse to pass messages that meet the keyword restrictions. As of now, these keyword restrictions include: o Any reference to rec.humor.funny in any newsgroup except rec.humor.funny. o Any reference to Brad Templeton, JEDR or Matt Crawford in news.* o Any use of the word "commercial", "commerce" or "income" or any of the expected spelling variants. We may add other keywords once we analyze the traffic flow. o Any posting made from or that passes through a commercial, public access system that charges a usage fee for access. Free systems will not be affected, but any system that generates revenue from its users, directory or indirectly, will be refused access to the network. The most infamous of these sites are Portal and the Well, but we have also identified seven other systems qualify and will be similarly restricted. We are also investigating whether to extend this to corporate machines that chargeback access time internally. Even though no money changes hands, there is a revenue adjustment, and therefore it's a commercial interaction. These messages will be deleted silently. You will get no warning that we have refused to pass them on. The second phase of the commercialism changes involves restructuring part of the net. The backbone feels strongly that USENET should be non-commercial. Therefore, we will be taking steps to guarantee that USENET becomes and stays completely non-commercial. Over the next 90 days, we will be putting in place software and procedures to enforce the following restrictions on USENET traffic: o All blatantly commercial newsgroups will be deleted. This includes (but may not be limited to) the following. A definited list will be published when our analysis of traffic is complete. biz.* comp.org.decus comp.newprod comp.org.ieee comp.org.usenix comp.org.usrgroup comp.sources.wanted misc.forsale misc.jobs.misc misc.jobs.offered misc.jobs.resumes misc.wanted rec.arts.wobegon o All moderators will be required to sign non-commercialism contracts. Any moderator that refuses to agree to this will be replaced or the group terminated. This contract will require that all material on USENET be copyrighted to the "USENET Community Trust" and not be redistributed on any other network. The moderator will not be allowed to be involved in any activity that allows them to generate revenue, directly or indirectly, from their USENET activities. The USENET Community Trust is a new, non-profit organization that has been formed to maintain and administer USENET and material that is distributed on the network. Initially, the backbone will act as both administrators and steering committee to UCT. We eventually hope that, once the current emergencies involving commercialized traffic are resolved, open elections for members-at-large on USENET will be possible. o All software distributed by USENET must from now on be in source form only and be public domain. This specifically excludes any binaries, shareware or demos. Also, the public domain requirement precludes any copyright in any form, so distribution of copyrighted sources of any type will be disallowed. This includes, based on our interpretation of the restrictions, any copylefted software including all GNU distributions. The following groups will be deleted as being obsolete because of this clause: comp.binaries.amiga comp.binaries.apple2 comp.binaries.atari.st comp.binaries.ibm.pc comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d comp.binaries.mac o Many computer vendors directly or indirectly support their products via USENET. This is a form of commercialism, as it allows them to use USENET for free technical support, marketing and sales promotion. This will be stopped. In the following groups, we will no longer allow postings of any type from any employee or representative of the company being discussed. This will allow the users of the products to be able to discuss it without the taint of commercialism currently undercutting the utility of these newsgroups. comp.lang.forth.mac comp.lang.lisp.franz comp.os.aos comp.os.eunice comp.os.os9 comp.os.rsts comp.os.vms comp.sys.amiga comp.sys.amiga.tech comp.sys.apollo comp.sys.apple comp.sys.atari.8bit comp.sys.atari.st comp.sys.att comp.sys.cbm comp.sys.cdc comp.sys.celerity comp.sys.dec comp.sys.dec.micro comp.sys.encore comp.sys.hp comp.sys.ibm.pc comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt comp.sys.intel comp.sys.intel.ipsc310 comp.sys.m6809 comp.sys.m68k comp.sys.m68k.pc comp.sys.mac comp.sys.mac.digest comp.sys.mac.hypercard comp.sys.mac.programmer comp.sys.masscomp comp.sys.misc comp.sys.next comp.sys.northstar comp.sys.nsc.32k comp.sys.proteon comp.sys.pyramid comp.sys.ridge comp.sys.sequent comp.sys.sgi comp.sys.sun comp.sys.super comp.sys.tahoe comp.sys.tandy comp.sys.ti comp.sys.ti.explorer comp.sys.transputer comp.sys.workstations comp.sys.xerox comp.sys.zenith comp.sys.zenith.z100 comp.unix.aux comp.unix.cray comp.unix.i386 comp.unix.microport comp.unix.xenix o Finally, many newsgroups are indirectly commercial. These groups include postings that make product recommendations, post comparative analysis material, book reviews and the like. Any posting that, directly or indirectly, attempts to sway a reader into purchasing or avoiding a product is now to be considered commercial and will no longer be tolerated. comp.arch comp.bugs.4bsd comp.bugs.misc comp.bugs.sys5 comp.compilers comp.databases comp.dcom.lans comp.dcom.lans.hyperchannel comp.dcom.modems comp.dcom.telecom comp.editors comp.emacs comp.fonts comp.laser-printers comp.lsi comp.lsi.cad comp.misc comp.os.misc comp.parallel comp.periphs comp.periphs.printers comp.sources.amiga comp.sources.atari.st comp.sources.bugs comp.sources.d comp.sources.games comp.sources.games.bugs comp.sources.mac comp.sources.misc comp.sources.unix comp.sources.x comp.terminals comp.terminals.bitgraph comp.terminals.tty5620 comp.text comp.text.desktop comp.unix comp.unix.questions comp.unix.ultrix comp.unix.wizards comp.windows.misc comp.windows.ms comp.windows.news comp.windows.x misc.consumers misc.consumers.house misc.invest misc.misc misc.taxes rec.arts.anime rec.arts.books rec.arts.comics rec.arts.drwho rec.arts.int-fiction rec.arts.misc rec.arts.movies rec.arts.movies.reviews rec.arts.sf-lovers rec.arts.startrek rec.arts.tv rec.audio rec.autos rec.autos.sport rec.autos.tech rec.aviation rec.backcountry rec.bicycles rec.birds rec.boats rec.equestrian rec.food.cooking rec.food.drink rec.food.veg rec.games.vectrex rec.games.video rec.gardens rec.guns rec.ham-radio rec.ham-radio.packet rec.misc rec.models.rc rec.motorcycles rec.music.beatles rec.music.bluenote rec.music.cd rec.music.classical rec.music.dementia rec.music.folk rec.music.gaffa rec.music.gdead rec.music.makers rec.music.misc rec.music.reviews rec.music.synth rec.pets rec.photo rec.scuba rec.skiing rec.skydiving rec.travel rec.video sci.electronics Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Greg Woods, Gene Spafford and Rick Adams, official shills. The Usenet Community Trust, Inc. (A non-profit organization) Chuq Von Rospach -*- Editor,OtherRealms -*- Member SFWA chuq@apple.com -*- CI$: 73317,635 -*- Delphi: CHUQ -*- Applelink: CHUQ [This is myself speaking. No company can control my thoughts.] USENET: N. A self-replicating phage engineered by the phone company to cause computers to spend large amounts of their owners budget on modem charges.