In uk.net.news.config on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:45:48 +0100, Owen Rees
 wrote:

> On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:38:39 +0100, Peter J Ross <pjr@example.invalid>
> wrote in :
>
>>In uk.net.news.config on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:53:19 +0100, Just zis
>>Guy, you know?  wrote:
>>
>>> Um.  Is it acceptable, in your view, to use public Usenet forums to
>>> accuse people of murder and paedophilia?
>>
>>Yes. It's Usenet. What's written here isn't necessarily true.
>
> What's written in newspapers is not necessarily true. If that is the
> criterion then clearly you must believe that it would be acceptable for
> you to be falsely accused of serious criminal offences, the kind that
> bring a howling mob to your door, on the front page of a national
> tabloid.

I'd certainly worry if The Sun described me as a pediatrician.

But Usenet is different. Surely only newbies believe what they read
about "Owen Rees" or "Peter J Ross" on Usenet?

And, of course, we don't have to use our real names if we don't want
to.

> There is also the point that we are discussing the uk.* hierarchy which
> is outside what many people consider to be usenet so assertions about
> acceptable behaviour there do not necessarily apply. I would also
> suggest that the narrower "big 8" definition of usenet also excludes the
> alt.* hierarchy which is the place where baseless accusations and
> endless abuse are apparently considered more normal.

There's very little difference between the Big-8 and alt.* in that
respect. Some news admins apply stricter abuse policies to the Big-8
(and possibly also to uk.*) than to alt.*, but anybody who dislikes
such policies needs only to find a new provider.

>>> And to have that record there in perpetuity?
>>
>>Use XNA.
>
> You have my permission to apply XNA to this message if you can.
>
> For those who do not understand XNA, the point is that he can't apply it
> to messages other people write pointing out his failure to grasp how
> netnews works despite having set himself up as an authority by asserting
> what is and is not acceptable in usenet.

Heh. My advice to use XNA was the result of a brainfart. It's much
better *not* to use XNA, so that the origianl version of altered
quoted text is available.


-- 
PJR :-)
slrn newsreader v0.9.9p1: http://slrn.sourceforge.net/
extra slrn documentation: http://slrn-doc.sourceforge.net/
newsgroup name validator: http://pjr.lasnobberia.net/usenet/validator