XPost: news.groups, rec.arts.comics.dc.universe, rec.arts.sf.tv   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: kalelfan@yanospamhoo.com   
      
   "catpandaddy"  wrote in message   
   news:ig38fl$n3f$1@news.eternal-september.org...   
      
   > "redux"  wrote in message   
   > news:ig2d2g$av8$1@tornado.tornevall.net...   
      
   [...]   
      
   >> You are just a Nazi.   
   >   
   > Godwin, bye.   
      
   Just for those following the thread especially in the racdcu and TV   
   groups, which includes you catpandaddy, the poster that you're   
   responding to may be the one known as Bloxy.  He may have used   
   various handles over the years and be the Bloxy XVIII sock puppet.   
   His "redux" handle in this case would be consistent with that.  The   
   poster could also be a total construct, i.e. troll as you mentioned,   
   because there's never any way to know for sure.  If it's UPA (Usenet   
   Performance Art, a term appllied to some forms of trolling and vice   
   versa) it'd be awfully good, in character shtick.  So I'm 95%+ sure it's   
   Just Another Bloxy post, maybe not literally The Original Bloxy but   
   the Bloxy Genre that's been common on news.groups for years.   
      
   For some reason there, as I was contemplating 18 or 19 Bloxy handles   
   the last decade or more, Spartacus just popped into my head and its   
   iconic "I'm Spartacus!" scene.  The broader point, I think, is that there   
   have been many Bloxies on Usenet, and on news.groups in particular.   
   Bloxies have authority "issues".  If anyone seems to be trying to impose   
   anything on them, or seems to be trying to wield some authority in   
   any way, it sets them off.  That sentiment is, to at least some degree   
   I think, universal.  Especially online and in a "forum" like Usenet,   
   where the Freedom-worshipping often are drawn to it because it's   
   a mostly unmoderated place.   
      
   On the other hand, Freedom has limits.  The classic example is   
   yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater as a joke or prank, and then   
   causing a stampede that kills people.  The "jokester" will almost   
   certainly get arrested and go to jail.  Likewise the Freedom to   
   wildly swing one's fist, without consequence, may end at the   
   other person's nose.  Maybe it escalates and somebody gets   
   very seriously hurt, and again it's jail time.  It's been mentioned   
   earlier in this discussion that a child porn investigation in New   
   York was one reason some ISPs stopped carrying Usenet going   
   back 5 or 6 years ago now.  I suspect many people have gone to   
   jail in that investigation and since, for posting, distributing,   
   etc. illegal material on Usenet.   
      
   AOL was sued when one of its own subscribers posted an SF   
   author's work on a newsgroup.  AOL did not fully win in its   
   defense and ended up settling with the SF author.  That was   
   certainly an often-cited possible factor in AOL's decision to   
   bail on Usenet.  Even if criminality isn't an issue, copyright   
   violation and other civil case vulnerabilities again demonstrate   
   that Freedom abused can have consequences, and as a practical   
   matter those consequences represent limits on Freedom.  A   
   perpetrator can do the crime or the harm, then whine about   
   Freedom denied all they like, but still pay a price.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)