Re: Greg Lindahl's attitude bothers me!

From: cedman@freedom.princeton.edu (Carl Edman)

Date: Sun, 07 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000

In article <3octgh$mi3@blekko.pbm.com>, Rich Skrenta <skrenta@pbm.com> wrote:
> pyrich@cris.com (John Pyrich) writes:
> > Mail is mail, private or public.
>
> [...]
>
> You can disagree with my arguments, but the fact is that the informal
> rules of the Usenet are not to post private email without the author's
> permission.  Don't do it, or you'll be a net.dweeb.

It is true that this rule has made it into a few repeated posts and
many people have heard of it.  It is equally true that it is not only
a useless rule but actively harmful to the net for reasons, some of
which John has mentioned and others you can find in countless posts
I've made over the years on that subject.  Even the proponents seem to
agree that only mindless tradition supports it when they invariably
fall back on the sole argument that "this is the way it has always
been !".

In as much as there thankfully is no ruling body of the Usenet except
general consensus, John went about the proper and canonical way for
the erasure of an unwritten rule i.e. deliberate public disregard for
it and posts which point out its baselessness combined with a
willingness to take the electronic heat for it.  Every debate we have
over this issue on the net informs more people about the opposition to
and uselessness of this rule which brings it closer to extinction.
For that reason, you should consider Johns actions a public service to
the net.

net.dweeb for over a decade,
        Carl Edman

References

Re: Greg Lindahl's attitude bothers me!
pyrich@cris.com (John Pyrich)
Thu, 04 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Greg Lindahl's attitude bothers me!
skrenta@pbm.com (Rich Skrenta)
Fri, 05 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000