ramsey@polya.Stanford.EDU (Ramsey W. Haddad) (02/09/89)
In article <232@algor2.UUCP> jeffrey@algor2.UUCP (Jeffrey Kegler) writes: > >The net is now a democracy/autocracy/anarchy. Newsgroup are created or >eliminated democratically. News is distributed via an anarchy with some >autocratic elements. Posting is anarchic except in moderated newsgroups. A >moderated newsgroup is a democratically licensed autocracy. Is this the >structure that makes most sense? What should the net/moderator relationship be? > Perhaps this isn't the place for a full discussion of this, but it isn't it interesting that: (1) Political philosophers over the years have reasoned about imaginary social compacts agreed to by all the individuals in a society. (2) USENET is probably the most significant case to date where a real social compact is being worked out between its members. ... And by a bunch of us who probably have read very little Locke, Rousseau, etc. -- Ramsey W Haddad