On Wednesday 10 October 2018 14:27:32 Larry Martell wrote: > On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 6:54 AM Bruce Coram <bruceco...@clara.co.uk> wrote: > > I will declare at the outset, I am a lurker. I don't know enough > > about Python to give advice that I could 100% guarantee would be > > helpful. > > > > There have been two recent threads that summarise for me where the > > Python Mailing List has lost its way (and this started before Trump > > arrived as a new role model for how to treat your fellow man): > > I do not think a Trump reference is approprate here at all. I could > start a political rant here, but I won't. > > If you think this list is harsh you must not have been on the internet > very long. > > This is a post that was going around back in 1996: > > Welcome to the Internet. > > No one here likes you. > > We're going to offend, insult, abuse, and belittle the living hell out > of you. And when you rail against us with "FUCK YOU YOU GEEK WIMP > SKATER GOTH LOSER PUNK FAG BITCH!1!!", we smile to ourselves. We laugh > at you because you don't get it. Then we turn up the heat, hoping to > draw more entertainment from your irrational fuming. > > We will judge you, and we will find you unworthy. It is a trial by > fire, and we won't even think about turning down the flames until you > finally understand. > > Some of you are smart enough to realize that, when you go online, it's > like entering a foreign country ... and you know better than to > ignorantly fuck with the locals. You take the time to listen and think > before speaking. You learn, and by learning are gladly welcomed. > > For some of you, it takes a while, then one day it all dawns on you - > you get it, and are welcomed into the fold. > > Some of you give up, and we breathe a sigh of relief - we didn't want > you here anyway. And some of you just never get it. The offensively > clueless have a special place in our hearts - as objects of ridicule. > We don't like you, but we do love you. > > You will get mad. You will tell us to go to hell, and call us "nerds" > and "geeks". Don't bother ... we already know exactly what we are. > And, much like the way hardcore rap has co-opted the word "nigger", > turning an insult around on itself to become a semiserious badge of > honor, so have we done. > > "How dare you! I used to beat the crap out of punks like you in high > school/college!" You may have owned the playing field because you were > an athlete. You may have owned the student council because you were > more popular. You may have owned the hallways and sidewalks because > you were big and intimidating. Well, welcome to our world. > > Things like athleticism, popularity, and physical prowess mean nothing > here. We place no value on them ... or what car you drive, the size of > your bank account, what you do for a living or where you went to > school. > > Allow us to introduce you to the concept of a "meritocracy" - the > closest thing to a form of self-government we have. In The United > Meritocratic nation-states of the Internet, those who can do, rule. > Those who wish to rule, learn. Everyone else watches from the stands. > > You may posses everything in the off-line world. We don't care. You > come to the Internet penniless, lacking the only thing of real value > here: knowledge. > > "Who cares? The Internet isn't real anyway!" This attitude is > universally unacceptable. The Internet is real. Real people live > behind those handles and screen names. Real machines allow it to > exist. It's real enough to change government policy, real enough to > feed the world's hungry, and even, for some of us, real enough to earn > us a paycheck. Using your own definition, how "real" is your job? Your > stock portfolio? Your political party? What is the meaning of "real", > anyway? > > Do I sound arrogant? Sure ... to you. Because you probably don't get > it yet. > > If you insist on staying, then, at the very least, follow this advice: > > 1) No one, ESPECIALLY YOU, will make any law respecting an > establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; > or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of > the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a > redress of grievances. > > 2) Use your brain before ever putting fingers to keys. > > 3) Do you want a picture of you getting anally raped by Bill Clinton > while you're performing oral sex on a cow saved to hundreds of > thousands of people's hard drives? No? Then don't put your fucking > picture on the Internet. We can, will, and probably already HAVE > altered it in awful ways. Expect it to show up on an equally offensive > website. > > 4) Realize that you are never, EVER going to get that, or any other, > offensive web page taken down. Those of us who run those sites LIVE to > piss off people like you. Those of us who don't run those sites > sometimes visit them just to read the hatemail from fools like you. > > 5) Oh, you say you're going to a lawyer? Be prepared for us to giggle > with girlish delight, and for your lawyer to laugh in your face after > he explains current copyright and parody law. > > 6) The Web is not the Internet. Stop referring to it that way. > > 7) We have already received the e-mail you are about to forward to us. > Shut up. > > 8) Don't reply to spam. You are not going to be "unsubscribed". > > 9) Don't ever use the term "cyberspace" (only William Gibson gets to > say that, and even he hasn't really used it for two or three books > now). Likewise, you prove yourself a marketing-hype victim if you ever > use the term "surfing". > > 10) With one or two notable exceptions, chat rooms will not get you > laid. > > 11) It's a hoax, not a virus warning. > > 12) The internet is made up of thousands of computers, all connected > but owned by different people. Learn how to use *your* computer before > attempting to connect it to someone else's. > > 13) The first person who offers to help you is really just trying to > fuck with you for entertainment. So is the second. And the third. And > me. > > 14) Never insult someone who's been active in any group longer than > you have. You may as well paint a damn target on your back. > > 15) Never get comfortable and arrogant behind your supposed mask of > anonymity. Don't be surprised when your name, address, and home phone > number get thrown back in your smug face. Hell, some of us will > snail-mail you a printed satellite photograph of your house to drive > the point home. Realize that you are powerless if this happens ... > it's all public information, and information is our stock and trade. > > 16) No one thinks you are as cool as you think you are. > > 17) You aren't going to win any argument that you start. > > 18) If you're on AOL, don't worry about anything I've said here. > You're already a fucking laughing stock, and there's no hope for you. > > 19) If you can't take a joke, immediately sell your computer to > someone who can. RIGHT NOW. > > Pissed off? It's the TRUTH, not these words, that hurts your feelings. > Don't ever even pretend like I've gone & hurt them. > > We don't like you. We don't want you here. We never will. Save us all > the trouble and go away.
Larry, I laughed my ass off when this came around in about that time frame the first time I saw it, long before I was invited to the off-topic list. And I'm laughing again right now. Thanks for digging it out of the archives. Take care Larry. -- Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
