On Sun, 18 Jan 2004, Radhakrishnan Nair wrote: > Fred, > > I think what Mr Teotonio de Souza alluded to is the propensity of some > ill-informed bigots to force their prejudices down others' throats -- which > is sickening, to say the least. > > Nobody gains anything from such crap. Please consider benign censorship to > prevent bad blood between brothers.
The price of free speech includes having to put up with bigots, nonsensical postings and views we don't agree with. Perhaps the best form of "censorship" is for readers -- this is easily possible via the Net -- to stand up and challenge the nonsense as and when it comes. We need more silent members of Goanet to be speaking out their views, for this to become more effective. The roots of the Internet clearly lie in a preference for free speech -- even if it's fast getting excessively commercialised, and hate-speech/porn is today coming out on top. Differences of opinion are fine. As long as diversity is alive, differences will be there. That's not a bad thing. On Goanet too, a handful of 'agent provocateurs' who's main task seems to be to needle persons, take disussions onto a gloomy note, and encouraging infighting among the member. But if the rest of us are clear about what our goal is, then censorship need not be an option. Our Goanet rules are quite fair and framed with the intention of encouraging decorum in discussions. See below. FN >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] RULES 1. Do not use foul or abusive language. 2. Do not engage in personal attacks. In other words, no name-calling. 3. Spam is not tolerated on this list. Goanet treats repeated postings, commercial posts, lengthy reposts of an earlier posting, among others, as spam. If you're quoting an earlier post, quote the minimum. 4. Do not send attachments or images with your message; text files should not be sent as an attachment, rather, copy the text into your message. 5. Use your real name as the Sender, not an alias. 6. Use a meaningful Subject Line. 7. Do not post messages in HTML or MIME formats, i.e. no bold, italics, colored text, etc. Rather, format your emails in plain text only. 8. If you are copying a post from a website, post a brief description of what you would like to communicate and include the URL address. 9. Do not post advertisements. Commercial postings have to be paid for if circulated via Goanet. The Goanet Admin?s decisions on all matters are final. 10. Once a particular discussion is declared "closed" by the Goanet Admin Team, anyone continuing that discussion is likely to face action. Every effort will be made to keep discussions democratic, free and open, but when a topic goes on endlessly in circles or threatens to transgress decent debate, or for any similar reasons, the Admin Team will be empowered to declare that discussion "closed." A violation of any of the rules will result in a reprimand. Subsequent violations could result in suspended or terminated membership. The decision to suspend or terminate membership will be a function of the severity and frequency of the breaches. GUIDELINES a. Post material which is relevant to Goan communities worldwide. b. Keep your message brief. c. Do not forward private email to the list without permission from the author. d. If you face a problem with another member, bring the complaint to Goanet Administration at [EMAIL PROTECTED] rather than to the list. e. Use civil language and a polite tone in all your discussions. TIPS i. Use a "smiley" to indicate a lighthearted comment, e.g. =) :-) B^) ii. New members might want to observe how the list works before posting, or can check out the archives at: http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/ iii. Pay attention to where your reply is going - do you really want the entire list to receive your message, or would you rather limit the audience? iv. Post a brief profile of yourself to the list as soon as possible after joining. v. If you have problems with the volume of mail, shift to the Goanet-Digest. You will receive one to three e-mails a day depending on the list?s activity. To join Goanet-Digest contact Goanet Administration at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
