Don't Feed the Animals!

["Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>]

Fact is, I now have more people in my Eudora filter file that at any time
in the four years this list has existed. Also a fact, there are more people
on this list that at any time in history (despite what some of the New Wave
journalists are writing about "the death of the Cypherpunks list").

Fact is, the attention being given to Vulis, Aga, Stathis, Boursy, and
other list disruptors (or clueless cross-posters) is _exactly_ what they
thrive on: controversy. Being the center of so much attention strokes their
egos.

I suspect John Gilmore made a tactical error in kicking Vulis off the list,
as there are so _many_ workarounds. Vulis is clearly posting more messages,
of even greater vitriol, than ever before. Dozens of messages just so far
today. And his supporters and detractors are chiming in with equally
juvenile taunts. This "aga" personna, for example, seems dead-set on doing
whatever he can to get himself added to the "Unwelcome on Cypherpunks"
list. A predictable effect, I'm afraid.

Not that I question John's right to do as he pleases with his machines.
This list is, after all, operated at his expense on his hardware.

[A minor note, though. I disagree with the abstract notion that John
"created" the list, and now "owns" the list. Eric Hughes, Hugh Daniel, and
I proposed a mailing list after the first Cypherpunks meeting, and Hugh set
it up. John volunteered his machine, toad, as he has volunteered it for so
many other projects in the past. While John is in an important sense free
to discontinue his hosting of the list, it is also true that traditional
notions of "ownership" are not the full story. For example, if the San
Francisco Marriot Hotel plays host to the CFP Conference, in any sense is
it proper to say they "own" the conference? If a church volunteers space
for a club meeting, do they "own" the club? However, in both cases the host
may kick out an especially uncouth or disruptive attendee, modulo specific
contract language agreed to by the parties, and this is, I think, all John
has claimed to be doing with Vulis. Perhaps a mistake, but certainly within
reason. I think John has taken a hands-off attitude toward the list, and
has never imposed restrictions on topic, membership, etc. This one case
involving Vulis was well-described by John: he asked Vulis to stop sending
50K byte rants about the Armenians and Turks to the list--consider that
50KB x 1500 destinations = 75 MB of outgoing traffic, modulo corrections
for aliases, compression, etc. Vulis responded with more insults, basically
saying "Make me!!!!" Gilmore said, "OK."]


And the issue is not just killfiles and filters. It's a matter of not
giving the juvenile disruptors the results they crave.

Yes, this message is itself likely to trigger at least a couple of "More
lies from Timmy [fart] May" spews from Vulis, and a couple of incoherent
rants from newcomers Stathis and Aga. I've been saying little on this
issue, compared to dozens of Vulis rants every day (ironic that he calls
_me_ the main ranter!), but it's time to remind folks of a basic Net maxim:

DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS.

--Tim May

"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."