From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Thu Sep 05 2002 - 13:03:11 MDT
On Thursday, September 5, 2002, at 01:43 pm, ABlainey@aol.com wrote:
> I agree that these issues are very dangerous, but don't feel that the
> discussion of them on the list should never be censored. I think you
> would probably disagree with me there.
I think someone flooding the list with spam should be stopped. It's not
censorship to declare some materials off-topic. It is not that we are
"afraid" to discuss it or can't logically refute it, we just don't want
our mailboxes clogged with off-topic garbage. If people want to discuss
other topics, let them do it on their own lists.
Just like spam, I want it blocked. I don't consider it censorship to
block it. I don't want to debate it scientifically or have a debate on
the merit of every spam that comes in. I don't want to have to prove
what's wrong with spam every time on every post. I simply want to
discuss real extropian and transhuman topics here.
I don't want to discuss politics. I don't want to discuss religion. I
don't want to discuss how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. I
don't want to discuss whether the soul survives cryonics. I don't want
to discuss a million issues that could be discussed. I especially don't
want to discuss topics that cannot and will not be resolved here. They
only cause flame-wars and have no chance of resolution. Examples would
be:
- Are guns good or bad?
- Are gays born or made?
- Are some races inherently brighter than others?
- Are some religions inherently more violent than others?
- Are some political parties inherently more trustworthy than others?
There are flame-bait topics that will never be resolved and are not
required for extropy or transhumanism to be discussed. I consider
anybody who repeatedly brings up these topics to be a troll or an
idiot. I am not scared, angry or unjustified in these areas. I am
merely tired. The same points are made and the discussion goes round
and round with no resolution. I consider these to be infinite-loops
hardwired into our culture. Even if the discussion should be valid, its
execution will never end. It is a denial-of-service attack on the
entire list and does nothing but reduce list usefulness in all other
areas.
This is not censorship!
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> Principal Security Consultant <www.Newstaff.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:16:45 MST