On Mon, 2011-10-03 at 19:26 -0700, Fernando Freire wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 6:56 PM, Jameson Williams
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > What is preventing our list administrators from removing the offending party
> > from the subscribers list, and adding a regex for the offending domain to
> > the ban list? The years of repeated violation of publicly stated list rules
> > would justify this - and to do so could greatly benefit the quality of our
> > transactions.
> 
> As Galen Sietz mentioned in a thread in PLUG-TALK, the list
> administrators take a different tack to the situation:
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/pipermail/plug/2004-May/032032.html
> 
> Banning even a single member from this list (no matter what side of
> this issue you fall on) has the potential to snowball into something
> much nastier; I'd hate to see a GNU/Linux mailing list degenerate into
> a walled garden where discussion about free software is maintained by
> a select few. The old adage goes "Live and let be", and that's exactly
> what I do when reading this list, many times I ignore the originating
> sender and focus on the content of the post, amazing right? If the
> topic doesn't pertain and/or interest you then perhaps it is in your
> best interest to leave it alone. This idle banter about degrading the
> quality of the list etc, etc, is only affecting the bigots who choose
> to focus on the actions of a solitary troll -- ignore it and move on!
> I think we've beaten this horse long enough, can we please drop the
> issue?

I found what you say interesting up to the point where you called me a
troll.  Is that really any way to treat a fellow Linux user?  I don't
think so, and frankly if this community is going to grow, this kind of
behavior has to STOP.

Maybe the list guidelines aren't strongly defined and perhaps that is an
issue that does need addressing.  First off, there is no penalty for
making a religiously controversial comment, such as, "God is a woman,"
on list.  There is no penalty for saying things like, "Obama has big
shoes to fill, I'll buy him a pair."  The person who pointed out that
Keith broke the rules of the list should not have been the person that
had to face severe consequences.  I was that person.  Those who are
commenting now, most of you are not list moderators.  Remember that
before you continue being self righteous.

I think those who are itching for a fight need to stop and reevaluate
what they are doing and why they are doing it.  Does this behavior help
anyone use Linux?  Does it encourage any people to adopt Linux?  Boy oh
boy, that PLUG list is full of Liberal Democrat thugs, I've just got to
use Linux.

I use Linux because I am a college student who needs something
inexpensive that works.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who can say that.
This community in my opinion is not very diverse if only one person can
stand up and say, "I found your point of view interesting."  The lack of
diversity on PLUG suggests that there is a large population in Oregon
that is not interested in Linux.  Why are people not interested?  

I suppose I can try to hide behind Google mail and hope that things
don't go south again.  I shouldn't have to hide.  Diversity is a
reality, that is why political/religious  comments are against the rules
on this list.  With no enforcement though and no moderating, what's the
point of there being any rules?

The question boils down to this, is the PLUG list going to be an
exclusive club or is it going to be an email list that welcomes
everyone?  If someone is targeted by bigots, is it right to say that the
person can simply go elsewhere?  What will happen if someone stumbles on
PLUG, has a bad experience here, and then he/she is faced with the
question of where to go with Linux?  Chances are, that person will dump
Linux and try to make do with Windows or ReactOS.  Bigotry will be the
ruin of Linux.  May not be today, may not be tomorrow that Linux loses
to Windows...  but what about the day after?  Linux came to be because
Linus Torvalds got help from other people.  Without the Net, Linux may
never have come into existence.  Linux is real, look at the progress
that has been made since the 1.0 kernel.  We are up to the Linux 3
kernel now.  Linus actually lives or did live in our state.  Fermi labs
and other major places including NASA use Linux.  There are college
courses on Linux.  Many Windows programs run on Linux.  And most of us
who use Linux didn't have to: produce it, purchase it, or otherwise seek
a license for it.  Some of us may tweak it here or change it there.
Maybe IBM contributed Postfix.  There is more to talk about, but I'm not
the expert and this is already turning into a major article ;-)

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