jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (John F. Haugh II) (02/05/89)
In article <2854@ddsw1.MCS.COM> karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) writes: >This is an official announcement of a discussion period (2 weeks) to remove >rec.humor.funny from the Usenet. The discussion period begins now, Fri Feb 3 >17:15:27 CST 1989, and will run until February 17, 1989. I'm sure you all >know by now (if you really read this far) how I feel on this matter. There is NO reason to remove this group. The group as it exists is just fine. However, the moderator needs some re-education. First point - He is making comparisions against other ``moderated'' newsgroups. Yet he is the only moderator making money on his works. Brian Reid explained to me that alt.gourmand was not a money making venture, the copyright was just to prevent someone else from making it profitable venture. What is going on with OtherRealms or whatever is beyond me. Rich $alz and Brandon Allbery have not asserted any form of copyright. Rich has recently specifically renounced his ``rights''. Second point - A straw poll should indicate the net is not behind him. He should follow the moderators credo - "Moderation in all things, especially in moderation." Failing that, he should step down. USENET does not need individual renegades, anarchy or not. No doubt a suitably pliable (read: co-operative, responsive and qualified ;-) moderator may be found to replace him. He is responsible to the network, not the network to him. Should he cease to serve his appointed function, or should he cease to have the desire to take the flack which no doubt goes with that job, he should let someone else be miserable. Third point - Did he ever poll his contributors prior to demanding his compilation copyrights? Did he imform the contributors prior to collecting jokes for his more recent money making venture? Did he ask his current contributors if they were willing to agree to his asserting a copyright over their work? I would wager, based on the fruckus from the earlier incarnation of this discussion that the answer to all three is a loud and resounding `NO'. I would like to see his response to these three points. I would hope it is more reasonable than his statements that he will rmgroup r.h.funny before giving up his ``control'' over it. ObJoke - What do you get if you swap the first two letters of `USENET'? -- John F. Haugh II +--Quote of the Week:------------------ VoiceNet: (214) 250-3311 Data: -6272 | "Get it through your head: InterNet: jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US | CARS ARE THE ENEMY." UucpNet : <backbone>!killer!rpp386!jfh +------ -- Bob Fishell ----------