1  |   Order by index

Dec 2, 1999, 6:02pm

Well it looks like the AW newsgroups isn't the only place you will find
censorship on the net.. Take a look at this article about Yahoo censoring
posts, http://www.smh.com.au/news/9911/04/national/national1.html

Sounds like the same kind of situation to me...

Rat

Dec 2, 1999, 9:31pm

Yes.... funny.... it says:

" However, a discussion in recent months about defense contractor Lockheed
Martin has been stripped from the Web site for being too controversial. "

and stating that this is a departure from previously understood Yahoo rules:

"Yahoo's previous policy was to remove messages that break securities laws
or contain libelous statements."

So lets not forget here... the issue is not whether or not they are doing a
good job of filtering what gets included in the newsgroup NOW. The issue
is, what will the filter be next week or next month. And will we know
when the filter changes. And will we have any say-so about it. And under
the circumstances, does that filtering increase or decrease the value of
this newsgoup, or any other newsgroup.

I think there is a place for both filtered and unfiltered newsgoups. If
you were to take the AW newsgroup list and show it to a disinterested 3rd
party who is familiar with real netiquette, and ask them... "which of these
would most likely be filtered newsgroups?" The answer would be "beta,
bots, worldbuilders, and maybe wishlist". Those are specific topics that
one would expect a need to monitor for "germaneness". One would NOT
typically assume that a group named "community" would need to be filtered.
And one would not ever expect it to be the ONLY one being filtered.

So go figure.... if you can... what sense this all makes. And please come
explain it to the rest of us when you do.

PS: Yahoo's service has gone WAY WAY downhill in the past few months as far
as I am concerned. I have removed my dependencies on them for things like
email, address books,etc because they are becoming so unreliable. Maybe
they have more users than they can handle and this is their way of running
some of them off. Its very effective.

PPS: Regarding a previous post.... and not condoning any statement made
about anybody in here in the past.... is it fair to post thinly veiled
comments in here about individuals who are no longer allowed to respond?
Doesn't seem fair to me. "We" got rid of the people we didn't want to
debate with right? So lets not carry on a "debate" with them in their
absence. Bad form.


[View Quote]

Dec 3, 1999, 1:22am

Yes.... funny.... it says:

" However, a discussion in recent months about defense contractor Lockheed
Martin has been stripped from the Web site for being too controversial. "

and stating that this is a departure from previously understood Yahoo rules:

"Yahoo's previous policy was to remove messages that break securities laws
or contain libelous statements."

So lets not forget here... the issue is not whether or not they are doing a
good job of filtering what gets included in the newsgroup NOW. The issue
is, what will the filter be next week or next month. And will we know
when the filter changes. And will we have any say-so about it. And under
the circumstances, does that filtering increase or decrease the value of
this newsgoup, or any other newsgroup.

I think there is a place for both filtered and unfiltered newsgoups. If
you were to take the AW newsgroup list and show it to a disinterested 3rd
party who is familiar with real netiquette, and ask them... "which of these
would most likely be filtered newsgroups?" The answer would be "beta,
bots, worldbuilders, and maybe wishlist". Those are specific topics that
one would expect a need to monitor for "germaneness". One would NOT
typically assume that a group named "community" would need to be filtered.
And one would not ever expect it to be the ONLY one being filtered.

So go figure.... if you can... what sense this all makes. And please come
explain it to the rest of us when you do.

PS: Yahoo's service has gone WAY WAY downhill in the past few months as far
as I am concerned. I have removed my dependencies on them for things like
email, address books,etc because they are becoming so unreliable. Maybe
they have more users than they can handle and this is their way of running
some of them off. Its very effective.

PPS: Regarding a previous post.... and not condoning any statement made
about anybody in here in the past.... is it fair to post thinly veiled
comments in here about individuals who are no longer allowed to respond?
Doesn't seem fair to me. "We" got rid of the people we didn't want to
debate with right? So lets not carry on a "debate" with them in their
absence. Bad form.


[View Quote]

Dec 3, 1999, 1:23am

Yes.... funny.... it says:

" However, a discussion in recent months about defense contractor Lockheed
Martin has been stripped from the Web site for being too controversial. "

and stating that this is a departure from previously understood Yahoo rules:

"Yahoo's previous policy was to remove messages that break securities laws
or contain libelous statements."

So lets not forget here... the issue is not whether or not they are doing a
good job of filtering what gets included in the newsgroup NOW. The issue
is, what will the filter be next week or next month. And will we know
when the filter changes. And will we have any say-so about it. And under
the circumstances, does that filtering increase or decrease the value of
this newsgoup, or any other newsgroup.

I think there is a place for both filtered and unfiltered newsgoups. If
you were to take the AW newsgroup list and show it to a disinterested 3rd
party who is familiar with real netiquette, and ask them... "which of these
would most likely be filtered newsgroups?" The answer would be "beta,
bots, worldbuilders, and maybe wishlist". Those are specific topics that
one would expect a need to monitor for "germaneness". One would NOT
typically assume that a group named "community" would need to be filtered.
And one would not ever expect it to be the ONLY one being filtered.

So go figure.... if you can... what sense this all makes. And please come
explain it to the rest of us when you do.

PS: Yahoo's service has gone WAY WAY downhill in the past few months as far
as I am concerned. I have removed my dependencies on them for things like
email, address books,etc because they are becoming so unreliable. Maybe
they have more users than they can handle and this is their way of running
some of them off. Its very effective.

PPS: Regarding a previous post.... and not condoning any statement made
about anybody in here in the past.... is it fair to post thinly veiled
comments in here about individuals who are no longer allowed to respond?
Doesn't seem fair to me. "We" got rid of the people we didn't want to
debate with right? So lets not carry on a "debate" with them in their
absence. Bad form.


[View Quote]

1  |   Order by index