🚀 go-pugleaf

klaatu wrote:
> 
> thedirectory of BBSes and Internet Access Providers wrote:
> >
> > klaatu (root@earthops.org) wrote:
> > : BBSes? Does anyone actually call them anymore? Hasn't anyone ever heard the
> > : saying, "That's as old as a BBS"?
> >
> > Yes they do. If you don't like BBSes, don't call them.
>
>[...] I'd rather hang on-line with people I may never meet, but who occasionally
> are well-mannered credentialed professionals with morals and ethics.

Morals and ethics... on USENET?  :->  Boy are *you* in the wrong place!

> 
>[...] If we were all the same the world would be v-e-r-y boring.
> 
> Ah, yes, that's why I like the Internet! Instead of having to find some sysop
> who's not on an access-control powertrip, and hoping that I won't offend them or
> their users, I can say what I want, and if I am confronted with someone who's
> opinions differ, there's absolutely no problem. Neither of us can really do a
> damned thing about getting the other's access cancelled, and the absence of
> potential for power-over turns one-way one-sided forums into true debates, which
> rarely if ever occur on any single-system BBS.

Perhaps disagreements between user and the-powers-that-be occur less often on 
Usenet than BBSes, but you're hardly invulnerable.  If you doubt it, try the
following:

1) Repeatedly post irrelevant drivel to a serious newsgroup.  
2) Crosspost a bunch of newsgroups a few too many times.
3) Spam all the newsgroups even once.
4) Post sexual material that features underage participants.
5) Threaten another user.
6) Mailbomb someone.
7) Place minimally controversial content on your personal web page at your 
   place of employment.

I'll put money on the probability that any one of these will result in angry
email to you AND your ISP/employer.  It's increasingly NOT the wild west out here.

> 
> As one sysop said, well, coming onto my BBS is like coming into my house. And
> he's right. I take it to the street, the Mainstreet of the world of
> communications, UseNet.

Hmm.  As a relatively long time Usenet denizen (> 7 years), I would say that in
the past couple of years, the internet has become more of a Backalley than a 
Mainstreet.

> 
> If you want to crouch in one little dimly-lit virtual room that's completely
> isolated from the larger world of online communications, go right ahead.

Have you ever heard of RIME?  Probably 90% of the BBSes in the DC area are 
connected via RIME just as far and wide as the internet.  RIME bulletin boards 
(and BBSes) have worldwide distribution.  They have since *well* before the
WWW existed.

You also might want to check out the content on The Well, or AOL or a sundry of 
other BBS variants.  There's a lot of good stuff out there that's not on the 
Internet.

> 
> I shall continue to scoff.

Actually, we well-mannered credentialed professionals wish you would take your
negative and elitist attitude elsewhere.

<...spoken in a clipped british accent, of course...>

--
Randy
crawford@mrj.com