On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 8:33 AM, Alan Burlison <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Actually I think the TOU is pretty clear. The particular messages that
are
> of concern contain personal abuse directed at other list subscribers.
The TOU contains 21 clauses over several pages that include umbrella
statements like "Host reserves the right to ... take any action Host deems
appropriate". You keep referring to continuing personal abuse that, other
than one outburst several days ago, I don't see, and you are threatening to
unilaterally and without warning shut down our community discussion list(s)
because of it. Obviously your skin is thinner in places where mine is
thick, and your tolerance for heated discussion in times of stress is set to
a different level than mine.
My uncertainty is how you are going to interpret these terms, and which one
of these is being violated by the "personal abuse" and "badmouthing" you
claim to be seeing?
3) You are prohibited from posting or transmitting to or from this Website
any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, or
profane material, any software virus, worm
This seems obvious and not open to interpretation, but then we get to vague
city:
or other material of a disruptive or destructive nature,
Hmmm, what do you consider to be disruptive? A post complaining about
Oracle? A post complaining about someone complaining about Oracle? A post
complaining about the complaints? Maybe you don't even care about this
clause... Is my calling a fellow list member a "fanboi" destructive - or
factual? Where in the TOI does it say I can't badmouth Joerg by calling him
a Sumo Fat Boy?*
(c) forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers (including URLs) in
order to disguise the origin of any Service or Content transmitted via this
Website; (d) misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
Hmmm - does this mean that if I post under a pseudonym ("Anonymous
Coward"...) I'll get booted? What if I use a screen name that disguises my
true identity (dogbreath, MilkmanDan, sickness, nrubsig, to name a few on
IRC...) ?
(e) disrupt the normal flow of dialogue or otherwise act in a manner that
negatively affects Users' ability to use this Website;
Is this rat-hole about list etiquette and management disrupting the normal
flow of trolling and fanboi-ism on this alias? Will it get me booted?
Rather than opening this can of uncertainty worms, IMHO it would be better
to respond publicly to those who violate the TOU's norms. A simple "R)eply
to all" by you, as moderator, saying "This is the moderator. This message
crossed the line again. You were warned privately on xxx July 2010, so you
have been placed on moderated posting status for XXX period of time". This
would do a few positive things for the community: It would make any
discipline transparent, and thus accountable, and it would provide specific
reminders and expectation setting to the rest of us as we strive to stay
civil with each other.
In my mind, part 3 of the TOU is not where we should be focusing our
attention. Rather we should take a big dose of clause 7: "ALL SERVICES AND
CONTENT ARE PROVIDED BY HOST ON AN "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE", AND "WITH ALL
FAULTS" BASIS ONLY. YOU ASSUME ALL RISK OF LOSS OR OTHER HARM FOR THE USE
THEREOF", delete any messages we don't wish to see (bye, Ned...), and stop
expecting someone else to shield us from the real world.
Thank you,
-John
____
* reference to an OSCON beer-inspired party stunt several years ago :-)
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