hans@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Hans Huttel) (02/23/90)
This is the _last_ CALL FOR VOTES for the rec.humor.objectivism newsgroup, which is to be unmoderated. If you are in favour of this group and charter (as defined below), send me mail with the single line of text: YES for rec.humor.objectivism as proposed. If you are opposed to the existence of this group with this charter, send me mail with the single line of text: NO for rec.humor.objectivism as proposed. I receive mail addressed to hans@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (see also my .signature file) The vote will run for 21 days. Votes received after March 1, 90 will not be counted. The result will be posted to news.groups, news.announce.newsgroups and rec.humor on March 2, 90. ==================================================================== 1. The Name--RHO Rec--because of the approach participants should use when contributing to this newsgroup. What is recreational about it is that postings should be Objectivist-style parodies, i.e. stuff that pretends to be serious reasoning based on observations of reality. "Ayn Rand says so", "My parents always told me that...", and "I have a headache" are good examples that can be used as premises for a `conclusion'. Humor--because humour, at the base of all other rec.humor.* newsgroups, will be the content. All kinds of jokes will be discussed. Objectivism--because most participants will be people who have already grasped the fact that Ayn Rand has identified a set of fundamental principles that integrate to make a special approach to humour. Contributors should have actually read an Objectivist article from another newsgroup before making any lengthy comments on a topic, since this will improve the quality of the humour dramatically. Posters who question Ayn Rand's conclusions are NOT excluded, since the mere act of questioning means that you actually cannot treat this stuff seriously. Irrational, tongue-in-cheek opponents making broad generalizations or asking what seem to be specific questions are especially welcome. 2. Charter rec.humor.objectivism for those who grasp that Objectivists are funny and are interested in poking fun at Ayn Rand's Objectivism. The primary content is intended to be pseudo-analyses of philosophic principles (and their applications) based on Objectivist postings. This current posting (in total) comprises a longer explanation of the charter. Note that the word "primarily" allows the contributions of ANY kind as long as they are interesting to people writing Objectivist humour. It also allows the derivative use of Objectivist postings from other newsgroups by not too serious folks who are not that interested in it but may want to laugh at Objectivism from time to time. 3. Quality Several things will help RHO achieve the quality its founder desires. a) The precise wording of the charter above should be used in your evening prayers. b) This notice will be posted once (NOW). c) Guidelines that people with a sense of humour should follow to contribute with truly irrational posters will be posted every now and then. d) Style guidelines that _I_ dream up will be posted whenever I've got nothing better to do. e) Guidelines for expressing disagreement should not be necessary, since everybody I know agrees that Objectivism is funny. f) The only action needed by system administrators should be to prevent the only way someone can initiate (indirect) force; i.e., they need to remove USENET privileges of those who fraudently associate their words with the signatures of others. DISCLAIMER: the intent of this group is not to represent Objectivism but to provide a forum for showing people how funny it is. HH March 8, 90 | Hans H\"{u}ttel, Office 1603 JANET: hans@uk.ac.ed.lfcs | LFCS, Dept. of Computer Science UUCP: ..!mcvax!ukc!lfcs!hans | University of Edinburgh ARPA: hans%lfcs.ed.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, SCOTLAND ... Ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more!