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   From: kalelfan@yanospamhoo.com   
      
   "catpandaddy"  wrote in message   
   news:ifqd2i$ebk$1@news.eternal-september.org...   
      
   > "KalElFan"  wrote in message   
   > news:8oae21FvmvU1@mid.individual.net...   
   >   
   >> "catpandaddy"  wrote in message   
   >> news:ifnfgd$s7d$1@news.eternal-september.org...   
   >>   
   >>> Isn't all of this already accomplished with killfile rules on a good   
   >>> newsreader?  People can already choose what to filter out by their   
   >>> own preferences, ...   
   >>   
   >> My guess is maybe 15% of longtimers have that way of looking at   
   >> it or that philosophy.  I disagree with it and Optional Moderation   
   >> inherently takes the user and especially new user perspective.  It   
   >> provides the optional moderation, rather than effectively telling   
   >> them "here's a bucket and a strainer, now filter the cesspool   
   >> yourself."   
   >>   
   >> I think 85% of longtime Usenetters will be fine with the idea of OM   
   >> and bringing in more newbies.   
   >   
   > Newbies ARE the problem.  They don't know how to conduct   
   > themselves.  Usenet in its very first year was negligible noise and   
   > nearly all signal.  No moderation was necessary.  Then the unwashed   
   > masses found their way in, and we can all see the results.  It is quite   
   > clear that bringing more newbies in directly correlates to the situation   
   > Usenet finds itself in today.  The solution is to go back to what worked   
   > at Usenet's inception, and this time stick to it.   
      
   Thanks for making my point and demonstrating part of the reason   
   for a new hierarchy.  The OM concept isn't even Usenet-specific, so   
   it certainly has no need for any specific Usenet group.  Why should   
   it *ever* try to limit itself to groups that have even 15% of posters   
   who will criticize and whine about the very concept itself?  Make it   
   strictly an optional, voluntary choice they have to make to post or   
   crosspost to the new hierarchy.   
      
   I'll leave you with the skewering piece I'd done on the 15% but   
   chopped the last round:   
      
     "Let users figure out how to use their killfiles and do the filtering   
     themselves.  We shouldn't do the work for them, or change the   
     way Usenet works for them!  If they don't like it they can go to a   
     web board.  Besides, if we make Usenet easy for them like AOL did   
     in the day, or Google does now, we'll get an Eternal September of   
     airhead newbies and the like destroying what's left of Usenet!   
      
     "Fortunately the cesspool stuff drove AOL away!  But Google is still   
     at it -- the cesspool doesn't stop them!  What's wrong with that   
     company?  What's this thing they have for free speech, where they   
     refuse to intercept postings that we deem to be spam and such?   
     Don't they understand that this is Usenet and we know better how   
     it should be run?   
      
     "Users.  Bah!  New users.  Double-Bah!  And now you want to filter   
     the cesspool for them?  Triple-GAH!  AOL might come back!  The   
     major ISPs could follow!  So then it won't just be Google, it'll be   
     countless user-serving nincompoop ISPs again, all letting users find   
     this place!  Our cesspool failsafe will be gone, so there'll be nothing to   
     hold them back or make them go away!  I'll be flaming the begeezus   
     out of them but it won't do any good, because you'll have me filtered   
     in this "hi-mod" version or view.  They'll be blissfully ignorant of my   
     presence, except when I converse with them in a civil fashion!  My   
     God man, do you realize the blasphemy you're proposing, and the   
     road to Hell you're taking us on?   
      
     "You do realize this would turn the place into Twitternet?  That all   
     of our brains will explode?  I give it two weeks before the Emergency   
     rooms are filed up, not to mention the psychiatrist couches, with us   
     longtime Usenetters.  Have you considered the health care costs?  If   
     you think Obama care was bad, just wait until Optional Moderation   
     hits the cyberfans.  Canada won't escape the carnage either.  Your   
     single-payer system will crack.  Think again about this slippery slope   
     to doom you're proposing.  Leave the cesspool and the noise just the   
     way it is.  It's our Iron Cybercurtain.  Please, Mr. KalElFan, do not tear   
     down that wall.   
      
     "In fact, do the right thing and help us create more barriers and also   
     strengthen the existing ones that new arrivals face!   Help prevent the   
     unwashed masses from filtering this cesspool!  Our Usenet cesspool is   
     beautiful.  We were here first and we'll set the Bar new arrivals must   
     meet.  I already have enough trouble filtering the problem servers like   
     Google and [insert their long list here].  Any newbie who wants in on   
     Usenet should do the same, and that's just for starters!  ..."   
      
   Almost word for word, that was in draft before you made your post!   
   Maybe there should be an om.psychic or somethin'.  :-)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)