Re: Silence is not assent (re the Vulis nonsense)

[Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>]

Timothy C. May wrote:
> At 3:05 AM +1300 12/4/96, Paul Foley wrote:
> >So Tim May's silence in response to Vulis's nonsense, while some
> >others came out in his favour "argues (not proves, just argues)
> >heavily in favor of Dimitri" too?  Yeah, sure!  Wanna buy a bridge?

> Actually, I've gotten several comments in e-mail to this effect, that if
> I'm not actively defending myself, maybe I'm guilty. Most were written
> roughly along the lines of:

[snippo]

> As to the ramblings of Dale Thorn about how John Gilmore has an obligation
> to provide services on his machine, well, I gave up on Thorn a long time
> ago. (In fact, I seem to recall a Dale Thorn I killfiled years ago on the
> Extropians list...maybe I'm confusing his name with someone else, but it
> sure rings a bell.)

Since I wasn't on the Internet before, the answer is no.

As to Dale insisting on Gilmore providing services, the answer to that
is clear if you actually read my posts, which you apparently claim to
have done, yet claim not to have done since you "gave up" a long time
ago.  Which is it, Tim?

Tim May writes on certain topics a la "Crypto Anarchy and Virtual
Communities" with a passion that is compelling, if not entirely
convincing, yet this "leader of cypherpunks" is pitifully out of his
element dealing with a truly rational person such as myself, since in
Tim's universe, emotion seems to be the more desirable substitute.

BTW, I never suggested guilt via not answering up to the list on any
topic.  I said it would have been clearer to the list subscribers if
John had explained things himself instead of having a plethora of
defenses coming from hacks like yourself, who don't represent John.

If you, Sandy, and the other offenders *really* want to keep the noise
down, then next time ask John directly for a reply, and if none is
forthcoming, say to the list *once*, "John will not answer up", etc.,
and let the subscribers draw their own conclusions from the silence,
instead of from your inane "defenses".