Lionel wrote: > >> I know that I'm old-fashioned in this respect, but I think for > >> online discussions no better system than Usenet has been invented, > >> but mailing lists are the next best options. > > > Full ACK. > > Have you lived the heydays of Fidonet?
I am going to assume that Lionel's comment was meant snarkily. However, I think it is worthwhile to approach this a bit more thoughtfully. For many of us the free software movement is a part of something more general - the wish to use computers/cyberspace ethically. The Consumer-based and Ethics-based world are often in conflict. For well-trained consumers life is simple: Newer is better and bigger is better - that is how they are kept consuming. Certainly a web-based interface is newer than mailing-lists, usenet or fidonet. The web browser is certainly bigger too, unhealthily so. But from my personal perspective a web-based interface substantially inferior to a simple mailing list. Here are my reasons: - A mailing list is well distributed - everybody has a copy of the message. And chances are excellent that I can contact my correspondents directly, without the permission of or interference from the forum administrator. - The modern web browser is a terrible piece of software. Even if the software is nominally released under a free (or even just opensource) license, it is very hard to participate as an independent developer - the sheer size of the browser codebase is deployed a weapon to exclude. Just you try building a big browser for a new platform. - The motivations of those developing the modern web browser do not fully align with the interests of the userbase. At best the development decisions imply the developers think themselves to be wise and their users stupid. But is generally worse than that - in many respects the modern web browser isn't written for the users but for advertisers. As they say: If you are not the customer, then you are product. Put simply I value a world where power and control is more or less evenly distributed amongst everybody - I mean, that is the concept of a functioning democracy, right ? I'd like to think that RMSes four freedoms are part of that, as they help motivated individuals control their computers rather then being controlled by them. Unfortunately mainstream, modern web browsers are used to centralise power and control populations by collecting vast amounts of data on them. In this regard is unfortunate some posters promote these technologies and think that is ok to accept money from entities who construct these antifree, antiprivacy or antidemocratic systems. regards marc _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion This mailing list is covered by the FSFE's Code of Conduct. All participants are kindly asked to be excellent to each other: https://fsfe.org/about/codeofconduct
