Tim May scolds Jim Choate:
Ditto for your bizarre theories about how electric fields work, about how charges inside conducting spheres don't follow Gauss's Law, and other crankish theories about electricity.
Give it a rest.
No doubt it would be rude to point out that it was Tim May's aggressive defense of off-topic postings that has made cypherpunks a safe haven for the likes of Jim Choate. As for Choate, perhaps his least charming trait is his insistence on posting his incoming private email to the mailing list, as though cypherpunks were his personal mailbox. He even scolds people who have the courtesy to take off-topic discussions to private email. This behavior is exactly the opposite of appropriate mailing list etiquette. Choate is like a little boy who feels a fart coming on when in the bathroom, and who runs into the living room to share it with guests. His particular stench has been fouling the list for far too long.