brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (12/14/88)
======================================================================== (Information on how to get a feed of rec.humor.funny is found at the end of this article) ======================================================================== There has been some misinformation on this matter, here's the scoop from the horse's mouth: A total of 6.5 articles appeared in the local paper, aimed at embarrassing the University of Waterloo. 2.5 were front page, the rest were on the front page of section B. The University, in reaction to these articles, arranged with me to temporarily cut off my communications to them from Friday Dec 2 to Monday, Dec 5 when meetings could be held. After meetings Monday and Tuesday, the President of the university asked that I not send them material which might be in bad taste, or offensive on discriminatory grounds. In effect, what you might call a "G" rated version of the newsgroup. It is any site's right to request what they be fed, for whatever internal reasons they might have. As UW has been kind enough to feed me news in the past, I am perfectly willing to honour such a request. Reports that rec.humor.funny had been cut off stem from the fact that the early edition of the K-W Record on Tuesday Dec 6, printed before a UW press conference, reported in a front page headline that "Joke editor loses access to computer." The late edition was headlined, "Joke editor agrees to UW demands." The "loss of access" reported was the temporary shutdown of my link for 3.5 days. This shutdown was done with my agreement. UW has not censored me, or you. They have restricted the flow of information to their own community. Members in that community may view it as censorship, but it is not such to us in the outside world. Complaint to the newspapers is valueless. More noise on the net on this matter won't serve much use, either. ======================================================================== I am willing to feed the complete rec.humor.funny to a small selection of other sites. If you wish a feed of this group, you must be willing to call my site once or twice a day. (Jokes are posted every 12 hours.) Rec.humor.funny is small, the pickup times are after hours, and I have a Telebit Trailblazer+, so the cost should be quite small. It will not be necessary to exchange mail, although I will be willing to do this with trusted sites. I would like to find about 4 sites spread around the net. I hope for well connected sites, possibly on the internet, in places like Silicon Valley, Bosnywash, The South, and Chicago. I already have Texas. I will also feed regions of the net that get most of their news via watmath. There is still some potential for uunet to offer a connection, but I haven't heard back from them. If you want to call to pick up rec.humor.funny, and you're a well connected site as described above, send me mail. I'll pick a few sites and set up links. Indicate whether you are willing to have my other local articles and/or mail fed over this link, as well. If you are in a major area of the net, and did not get articles "ashes to ashes" and "Cheap at half the price" in rec.humor.funny, then you definitely need a feed. I want to feed several sites because I want it to be impossible, in the future, for a person bent on controlling this group to attempt to do so by attacking the site I feed. ======================================================================== Thanks to all of you for your tremendous support. I will make a statement on the more controversial parts of this affair at a later date. As you know, I have kept otherwise silent, for various reasons. Wait for that statement in rec.humor.funny and news.misc. ======================================================================== Thanks as well to all of you who are ordering the 1988 jokebook in support of me. I can thank Mr. Richmond for one thing, namely selling more books for me! Those of you who got it can post reviews, if you desire. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
cc1@valhalla.cs.ucla.edu (Kenneth L. Bartlett) (12/16/88)
How about "alt.humor.funny" for the PG-13 jokes? No, no, no, I'm being serious. Would it be hard to set up a alt.humor.funny that would post all the offensive jokes from Brad, and let rec.humor.funny be the offense-less group? --Ken Bartlett
wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (12/17/88)
In article <18963@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> cc1@cs.ucla.edu (Kenneth L. Bartlett) writes: > >How about "alt.humor.funny" for the PG-13 jokes? > >No, no, no, I'm being serious. Would it be hard to set up >a alt.humor.funny that would post all the offensive jokes >from Brad, and let rec.humor.funny be the offense-less group? Trouble is, who defines what is offensive? Until all this brouhaha started, I didn't think most Jewish jokes were offensive -- after all, most printed collections of Jewish/Yiddish jokes are compiled by Jews, and just look at the outpouring of support Brad got from Jewish Netters. You can make a determination what is offensive and what isn't, and before you know it, someone comes along and makes a big stink about one of the jokes you thought harmless. And putting it into alt.* would not help -- people like JEDR tend to think that not only must you not offend them in their hearing (or reading in this case), but also when they are out of earshot (or sight), and they will go hunt for things that offend them in order to eradicate them. So if watmath does not carry the alt.humor.funny group, that type of person would go after whoever did. We just need to put up with people like that -- they were put there in order to teach us patience and humility :-) ... -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: dcs!wnp@killer.dallas.tx.us TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD