Telecom bill discussion / censorship / children on the net: enough

[Thomas Dowling]

>     If you are so frightened of _flaming_ and _being dumped on_, maybe 
>you shouldn't participate.  Tell me, just what is _appropriate_ for this 
>list?  Does it have to be propeller head stuff only?  Isn't it the 
>censors who run to tell us what's appropriate?  

Oh, come now.  Suggesting that a list try to stay
on-topic is a far cry from censorship.  What is 
appropriate for this list is what we, the participants,
decide it is, with the understanding that most of us
signed on for discussions of WEB development FOR (or "4")
LIBraries.  That's an admirably flexible boundary, but
Peter Graham, as one of the participants, is entitled to point
out that it doesn't necessarily extend to general discussions
about intellectual freedom, which might be more fruitfully
taken elsewhere.  As another of the participants, I must
say I agree.

Having said that, I have no interest in trying to stop anyone
from carrying on this thread.  And there you have it: members
of a virtual community trying to keep a discussion focused 
rather than an authoritarian regime exerting control over what
that discussion can cover.

And since you brought it on yourself--

FLAME ON
What besotted troglodyte told you to use an underscore
to quote material from a prior post?  That's the convention
for underlining!  My mama taught me to use quotation marks, 
Bubba, and they're even available on the Commodore 64 you 
must be using, so let's try to get with the program!

Nah, FLAME OFF.  My heart just isn't in it...  :-)


Thomas Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu