Bill Frantz writes:
Enforce? Enforce? Exsqueeze me?
On cypherpunks, Perry is the principle enforcer, although others frequently join in.
Oh, right. I remember now. All the off-topic junk I see on this list is just my imagination. All the billions of "UNSUBSCRIBE" and "SIGNOFF" and "SET NO-MAIL" messages I see on the mailing lists I'm on are just bits of lint that slip by. The "enforcement" is always a reactive thing. I don't think you'd get far with a parent explaining that the material they consider indecent which somehow showed up on alt.kids.only would be dealt with by blistering flames.
And of course, it doesn't work...
Of course it works. Cypherpunks stays much more on the topic than it would without Perry. Since Perry has no way of directly enforcing his opinions, they can be overridden by any other posters, but his "moral suasion" does have an effect on many of us.
So you think those who want a "controlled cyberspace" would be happy with newsgroups that stay "mostly decent"? I strongly doubt it, and I will also add that such "enforcement" is far, far less effective on newsgroups than on mailing lists. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5@tivoli.com) | | stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~