Re: Many Topics are Appropriate for Discussion Here

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>]

hallam@w3.org writes:
> 	There is a bug in mh mail that causes all mails to be rejected after
> there are more than 9999 in the same mailbox. I recieved 100 in two hours
> today so I suspect the subject line may well be related to my earlier post.

There isn't such a bug in MH, but mhe, if you are using it, won't show
more than that number. Simply split your mailbox and all is well again.

> 	Just a calibration point. The libertarians on the list do not seem
> to shrink from expressing their political views.

I don't express my general political opinions very much at all. As it
turns out, I'm a very radical libertarian, and anyone reading my stuff
elsewhere would know that, but I don't discuss this stuff in public.

> Indeed the entire discussion
> on the NSA is a political thread pure and simple.

This list *is* political in the sense that it is for people who have
chosen the view that the spread of cryptography is good. It is not,
however, a list for just *any* political discussion. The topic is
purely cryptography, and we operate largely from the viewpoint that if
you think crypto is very evil you probably should discuss that
elsewhere.

> Government regulation often provides social benefits
> it is not by definition an evil to be avoided.

I would disagree, but that is a discussion for elsewhere.

> 	If someone comes up with a crypto proposal to avoid paying taxes I
> know it will never get anywhere.

A lot of what Tim May has been talking about here for many years is
the inevitability that cryptography will weaken current financial
controls -- sooner or later, whether the central governments want it
to happen or not.

> PS I'm also none to impressed by people who make comments like "you are wrong
> about XXX but I won't explain why".

I sent you a detailed explanation, in PRIVATE mail, of why you were
wrong about governments being the only way to provide roads, including
lots of counterexamples to your claim. However, this is not libernet,
this is cypherpunks, and this isn't a place for that discussion. Thats
why I sent you PRIVATE mail.

Perry