John Bokma wrote: > "Tagore Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Your emails to his ISP > > are far more wasteful- you are using up very scarce resources > > dedicated to dealing with real abuse. > > According to his hosting provider dreamhost: > <quote> > I have warned this user that excessive offtopic cross-posting is not > allowed, and explained that if he doesn't quit he risks losing his > account. If you (or anyone else) notice this in the future, please do not > hesitate to submit another report. > </quote>
Precisely: you have wasted the time of someone who might otherwise have spent that time dealing with real abuse. You got the standard email sent out to placate people like you. That was my point. Try sending mail to abuse at (any of my) desmesne(s). You won't get a response- in fact, no-one will read your mail. We just don't have the resources to deal with the easily offended. Too bad- we wouldn't mind handling real abuse, though it is unlikely given our selective set of users. I'm not sure that Xah's post was offtopic, and I am not sure how to determine that objectively. I am sure that it was excessively crossposted. I also know that Xah was posting to Usenet a long time before you, and that he will still be posting to Usenet long after you have given up in disgust, no matter who you complain to. > Reread it a few times, it might educate you (note the *cross-posting* and > the *submit another report*) I think I've mentioned the crossposting in every message I have posted on this thread, and that I don't approve of crossposting. I'm not sure that you are in a position to educate me, and that you suggest that you are is, frankly, obnoxious. I've been civil so far. > (Rest of your misinterpretation snipped). You can snip the important part, but that won't make the point go away. I happen to have been working in this industry for a long time. I have a lot of friends working at, and running, various enterprises. Some of those enterprises handle a lot of the internet's traffic, measured by packets at least. If I were really ethically impaired I could easily mess up internet access for a "list of people I don't like". A call from a backbone provider is not as ignorable as a random email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] But I am not ethically impaired (or at least not ethically impaired in that way). Every young sysadmin learns a simple thing: "you have disproportionate power, don't abuse it". Sometimes you have to read people's mail, to diagnose a problem. If they are into weird bondage stuff you avert your eyes, and you _never_ tell anyone (though I think you are allowed to look at them funny at the company picnic). If they are into child porn you call the cops, I think (the ethics are fuzzy here, but this is my conclusion). Crossposting is bad, unless it serves a specific purpose- Xah's post obviously doesn't. I dont like people reporting on Usenet posters to their ISPs, but... I can't really complain about that. Crossposting is not good, without a really good justification. But you are complaining about the content of his posts, and harassing his ISP based on that. That's not just bad, it is wicked. You can quote whatever you want from their emails, but I won't change my mind on this subject- Xah shouldn't crosspost, but otherwise he should be allowed to post. Would you like a Usenet campaign started to disrupt your internet access? You would be angry if that were done, and justifiably. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
