sjackson@pro-smof.cts.com (Steve Jackson) (02/27/91)
Here comes the "scarcity of resources" argument again, and, as usual, it's totally bogus. The net is a marketplace of ideas. If you create a newsgroup that is more useful and interesting than the pre-existing competition, it WILL catch on. The "attention of network administrators" is not the property of the public, and moderating a net newsgroup is in NO sense a public trust. *Of course* Townsend's readers have a right to complain. They derive this right from their Constitutionally protected freedom of speech, not from any imaginary net.rules. Townsend, in turn, has the right to say anything he likes in HIS moderated newsgroup, and to include, or not to include, those criticisms in HIS newsgroup. I will defend, strenously, the right of anyone to disagree with Townsend (or anybody else). And I'll defend my own right to criticize those who disagree in intemperate, childish, or stupid ways, or who think that they have to stifle Townsend in order to secure their own freedom. OK? On another subject: The Well recently dropped their rates. They are now $2/hour, not $3. San Francisco is Pursuitable, so they're very cheap to reach, and there is an extremely active EFF conference there, with enough topic areas that "topic drift" is a non-problem.