[news.admin] The old Censoring-topic again

kraut@ut-ngp.UUCP (11/21/87)

In article <34234@sun.uucp>, chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
> .....
> dozen cases in the last couple of years where the idiot involved WAS the
> System Administrator. What do you do when the problem is the person in charge?

and can't be brought back to his/her senses?  In serious cases, you lobby the
sites adjacent to reevaluate if they really think that a news-link
to the offending site is such a good idea .....  if someone offends a
community he becomes an outcast.  that's saying "go play somewhere else and with
someone else" - it doesn't mean "you can't play" it means "you can't play with
me or my ball or in my backyard ... "  
the complaint that I am the only "free" game in town
will only cause me to remark that "while it may be free for you, 
my disk-space, CPU-cycles or phone-bill haven't been free yet ...."

...with the arrival of single-user workstations we'll, probably, see more and
more of that - it's likely to have happened already more than we may think ....

I guess, if we continue this discussion we, probably, should change the
Subject:-header  - my remarks, certainly are no longer in any connection to
what Eric Madding may have once said .... as a matter of fact, I'm going to do
that .... it's done, as you can tell by the Subject:-header ...

and the misinformed references to First Amendment rights regarding USENET
are really getting tiring (but I guess this topic will come up again and
again; sigh ...)  it's like this:  until a court decides differently,
any site can refuse to accept or forward news-articles (or loose them in a
crash  :-))  .... because (and I'm willing to claim before any court to be
an expert on this) that is the NATURE of USENET!!!  (on the other hand, it is
not likely that a site which becomes known as a "black hole" or a "censors'
hangout" is going to be long on this net ....)

simply because I/you/they purposefully or accidentally fail to broadcast some
articles does not prevent an author to get "published" elsewhere.
(for example, he can pay to post on a commercial net, if they will have him,
or he can buy a machine (and find lots of sites willing to establish a
news-link to it ...) and, directly distribute to anyone who is interested
in being associated with him.

of course, our courts have surprised me sometimes with their wisdom .... :-)

BTW, I am in no way speaking for the site from which I post;  I only read
and post here because my machine does not have enough disk-space or the
required news-software .... for all I know, someone/something may decide to
drop all my articles into the bit-bucket ... and what you are reading is only
a result of your telepathic abilities ...
-- 
werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu    (prefered address)
kraut@ut-ngp.uucp               (if you must)