diamant@cwruecmp.UUCP (John Diamant) (10/25/83)
Due to the recent problems with offensive jokes, I propose we create a newsgroup called net.jokes.offensive or something to that effect. I realize that what is offensive to some is not offensive to others, but I think people know when a joke is going to be generally offensive. What I am basically suggesting is that people posting news would have to be the judge of what is offensive, much as it is done with rotating jokes. The existence of this group would allow people who are bothered by these jokes to not be subjected to hundreds of rot13 jokes, and it would allow systems administrators who did not like offensive jokes to remove them from their subscription list without taking net.jokes and other newsgroups away. Disclaimer: In suggesting this newsgroup, I am not condoning offensive jokes on the net, merely trying to find a solution which will be acceptable to the most people. John Diamant Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio Usenet: ...decvax!cwruecmp!diamant CSNet: diamant@Case ARPA: diamant.Case@Rand-Relay
john@genrad.UUCP (John Nelson) (10/25/83)
I realize that you are just trying to be helpful, but this solution of yours
has already been tried. Twice.
The first time, the qroup net.jokes.q (for questionable jokes) was created.
However, the problem was that anyone who subscribed to net.jokes would
automatically also be subscribed to net.jokes.q. Some unsuspecting manager
got an eyeful, and raised a ruckus.
The second time, a new news category was created, and ug.jokes (ug stood for
UGH! I assume), but the problem there was that only a few sites ever created
the group, and so the rest of the net continued posting the offensive stuff
to net.jokes.
The current established convention for posting any offensive material is
to ROT13 it. This is a very simple algorithm by which text may be
encoded/decoded. I would be happy to send a copy of a program that
implements this to anyone who wants it.
Actually, any of these schemes will NOT WORK unless the people on the net
CONFORM to the established conventions! Every september (and january)
newcomers to the net post an inappropriate articles to the net, and the same
issues get raised. If everyone new to the net would READ the netiquette
article before posting junk to the net, everyone would be MUCH happier!!!!
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| O | John P. Nelson
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