🚀 go-pugleaf

I've become convinced that no effort to influence posters to be more
polite will succeed, and thus I've abandoned my proposal for "a system
to discourage rude postings" and other such things.

My original error was in underestimating the fervor with which news
administrators and news users in general embrace the anarchic nature
of news. The consensus appears to be that the need for freedom of
expression _in_any_manner_ overrules their distaste of the occasional
abuse of that freedom. I should have seen this from the reaction a decade
ago to the plans to moderate all news groups so that they could be carried
on Stargate.

One test of the effectiveness of an electronic forum is the degree to
which it is taken seriously by _outsiders_. The most sucessful netnews
group in this respect appears to be comp.risks, which has gained something
of the respect of a professional journal, and is often quoted in print.
The structure and style of RISKS is quite different from that of the
usenet in general, and this structure has been an important tool in
earning the respect that RISKS has gained. I now believe that the natural
stratification of the usenet into structured and moderated discussion
forums that exist in parallel with anarchic anything-goes newsgroups is  
its best hope.
					Bruce Perens