On Mon, 9 May 1994 07:39:58 -0400 Paul di Virgilio COMPUMED said:
>Sometime earlier, Janusz S. Bie/n said:
>>Before that, Paul di Virgilio COMPUMED said:
>>> You did not have to delete the people right away.  You should have
>>> reminded them of the listserv protocol from Paris which forbids
>>> politics and propaganda on the internet, although a lot of people are
>>> unaware of this provision.  The protocol and
>>
>> What do you mean by the listserv protocol from Paris? Are you sure
>> you are not confusing it with EARN regulations which are not relevant
>> to Internet?
>>
>> Janusz S. Bie/n
>>
>  Janusz,
>
>Exactly!  I do not consider the two to be separable because there just is
>no other document which accurately and concisely addresses the problems
>which we are discussing.  Since I did my first international electronic
>conference in Europe, I tend to think in that frame of reference.  If you
>know of another comparable document, I would be interested in using it as
>a tool to maintain decorum on the internet.  Thanks for the help.
 
Who says it's up to EARN, us, or anyone else to try to impose decorum on
the net?  Who says anyone has the authority to do so?  If any one service
provider or service coordinator says that politics, propoganda, commercial
activity, or discussions of Pascal are forbidden, that's not binding on
most of us.
 
USENET has some oral traditions of do's and don't's, often published in
news.answers if you get USENET.  They operate as best as peer pressure and
as "tips for us gettng along well together," (my wording, not theirs).
They've long ago accepted that no one has authority over everyone, that
behavior will be modified only by concensus, not by fiat, and that people
had better accept that it's a big wide world out there and that we're not
in control of it.
 
Just a thought,
Nick
 
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