In the latest installment of the There's-gotta-be-a-better-way discussion, Dr. Solari wrote: > > I do not agree, Sir. If EARN board of chiefs has taken the care to write > down some guidelines they should be considered by every one and a follow > up discussed. > .... > > That is a conceptual way to accept the partial waste of an infrastucture > which cost billions. Beyond any nationalistic bigotry I would like to > suggest that Americans (from Canada to Argentina) take the concepts of > "freedom and control" too far. If things will work, and if Internet/Bitnet > will serve humanity, there must be some rules - which do not necessarily > imply "control" in a political context whatsoever. > EARN does not speak for the planet, as much as I respect the people who run it. I think that it "serves humanity" quite well to have a flexible network which offers different levels of access and control in different contexts. No one group has written the definitive book of rules, nor do I think one can be written. The basic golden rule, echoed by all world religions and most philosophies, of respect for the other person and other points of view, is probably the only thing all of us can be certain we have in common. One point which needs to be made every so often is that some countries offer wider network access than others to their (e.g.,) undergraduates and others who are being acculturated to the net. The value in having many ways of using the net (from IRC to moderated newsgroups and lists) helps the socialization process along. I don't know if this view is shared on the more sophisticated Continent but I believe all people should (resources permitting) have access to the net, and should have the opportunity to learn how to use it. ( This naive view of mine is probably written down somewhere in some UN document, it's platitudinous enough.) If you want a list which runs the way you want it to, and you want tight controls over content/topics, then moderate it and don't complain if relatively few people stay on it. If you want to tolerate a bit more diversity, then use persuasion (not gatekeeping) to keep a broader and more open discussion on track. If you don't like the danger of unwanted and undisciplined posters from gatewayed newsgroups, then keep your list strictly email w/o gateways. I don't mean to waste peoples' time on this, but I'm also on Fish-Ecology and have already suffered through the same kind of discussion there. Enough, please. Regards, -Dave Phillips