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Author Message
25 new of 367 responses total.
rcurl
response 75 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 07:25 UTC 1997

You don't have to vote for it (noone does - in which case....).
tsty
response 76 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 17:48 UTC 1997

#41  #45  #46  & #61 ...excellent reasoning.
  
<<'lower density of assholes,' may i quote you?>>
rcurl
response 77 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 19:14 UTC 1997

I hear the "Grex Elite" speaking. Reminds me of the arguments that put
obstacles to voting, such as sex, color, wealth, literacy, etc.
robh
response 78 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 20:02 UTC 1997

And age, and citizenship...

Oops, wait, we still have those restrictions, don't we?

<robh fights for the right for three-year-old Canadians to vote
in US elections>
robh
response 79 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 20:06 UTC 1997

And how could I forget the obvious restriction?  No one in this
country is allowed to vote unless they - REGISTER!!!  Just like
it is for reading the Grex conferences right now!

(If rcurl would like to see unregistered people allowed to vote,
he might want to say so expressly.)
rcurl
response 80 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 20:20 UTC 1997

I walked into that one... %^{. My point though, is that the talk is of
*keeping people out* on the basis, not just of registering, but because
they are the great unwashed masses. I do agree with the right to vote
requiring membership, and the right to be published requiring citizenship
(registration), but since when is the right to *read* restricted by
meeting tests? You do not have to be a citizen - even a member - to enter
a library and read. As a charitable, non-profit organization, Grex is
closest to being a library.

adbarr
response 81 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 22:01 UTC 1997

Gott in Himmel! You want people to read, then learn, then vote? Better 
the masses should not be exposed to such corrupting influences. Those 
chosen to lead and control know what is best. Trust me. 
jenna
response 82 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 21 22:27 UTC 1997

I don't care if people form the web register on grex.
I don't thik anybody has a valid, unbiast arguement against that.
I DEFINTELY think newuser should remain on the web.
robh
response 83 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 00:36 UTC 1997

I agree.

(I sound like one of the advisors from Civilization II, don't I?)
davel
response 84 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 02:43 UTC 1997

SET DRIFT ON
Um.  On reflection, I observe that I'm spending rather a lot of time lately
ranting at kerouac/richard.  (Since he's changed his login, I haven't bothered
to filter out his responses - largely because filtering him didn't filter out
the reams of stuff other people respond to his, um, comments, & this is about
as jarring as reading it all.)  At this point I don't really find myself able
to be patient with him.  Nonetheless, I don't think it's right to find myself
engaged in the kind of personal comments I've been making lately; that richard
invites them is no justification IMO.  It functions as one more distraction
in a discussion that's already apt to drift all over the place, and encourages
the impression anyone visiting this conference casually might have that we
consider namecalling an acceptable substitute for rational argument.

So, first of all, my apologies: to richard, to a few others onto whom my
irritation has spilled over, and to everyone reading my comments lately.
Second, since I don't seem able to rein it in very well (and, admittedly,
since keeping up with coop is getting to be a job sometimes lately), I think
I'd better take coop out of my cflist for a while.  I really don't think the
lack of my comments will make that much of a difference, but if it does (and
assuming the change is for the worse), my apologies for that, too.
SET DRIFT OFF
aruba
response 85 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 04:29 UTC 1997

Rane, my problem with your arguments in #80 is that we *don't* keep people
out for any reason at all - we just require a little effort on their part,
that's all.  A *little* effort.  I also think that the analogy of Grex to a
government is not very good; the fact is that participating in Grex bears
little relationship to voting or even, I think, going to the library.

Of all the established non-virtual institutions we have, I still think the
one that Grex most resembles is a church.  Churches usually welcome guests
and new members with open arms, though they often ask guests to sign a guest
book (optionally).  They certainly don't turn away "the unwashed masses".

But churches generally *don't* put cameras in all the rooms of their
building and broadcast all the doings there for all people to see.  Is it
because they can't afford to, or because the meetings that take place are
secret?  I don't think so - I think it's because they assume that anyone
who cares to know what's going on will come to the church and find out for
himself.  (And anyone who can't be bothered to show up wasn't very
interested in joining a community.) 

The worst kind of churches (IMO) are the ones who broadcast their services
on TV.  Why do they do that?  To get money from people who otherwise
wouldn't know the church existed and would choose a different church
instead.  But in the process they lose their integrity, and are forced to
care more about appearance than content.  They become bigger and more
impersonal, and act more like a business than a church. 

I don't want to see Grex go down that road.  I think that if people want to
see what goes on here, they should show up and sign the guest book.  (They
needn't use their real names.)  We have plenty of people who do that already,
so apparently our existence is no secret.
scott
response 86 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 12:53 UTC 1997

Good analogy, Mark.
valerie
response 87 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 13:04 UTC 1997

This response has been erased.

mary
response 88 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 13:33 UTC 1997

Frankly, I'm shocked that putting up a fence to keep out the unwashed
masses would be seen as a good thing here.  The people out there are no
different from the people in here except they tend not to know someone
already here. 

Grex should be *seeking out* a diverse userbase.  Sorry, I see this
register-before-reading hoop as an barrier intended to make it difficult
for "unaffiliated" folks to find us.  And it is most definitely not what
we started out wanting to do with Grex. 

dpc
response 89 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 17:05 UTC 1997

I see no reason why the masses, great, unwashed, or whatever, can't
at least take the trouble to run newuser to read stuff here.
Keep our semi-permeable Web membrane intact!  Vote NO on Mary's
proposal!
jenna
response 90 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 19:17 UTC 1997

if the masses can't figure out how to do newuser, don't have
the time to not bother reading it (I've not bothered reading it
many times) then why the hell are they coming here? Grex is a bbs.
There's a million tons of information on what a bbs is. If ou want
to see this particular book, take a nametag and get in line, same
as everybody else everywhere else. People do put up fences, people
do close the doors to their houses when they leave for the night.
That's doesn't make them unwelcoming, it makes them sensible.
richard
response 91 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 20:05 UTC 1997

I guess the polls woill re-open on Wednesday for this vote...that willbe two
weeks....should be ian interesting vote.
adbarr
response 92 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 20:15 UTC 1997

Does newuser really filter anyone? I could be Tan from the Sun, and may well
become such. Why is it necessary to require the running of newuser before
anyone in East Timor reads somthing here? Maybe this is just an issue of
money and resources? If so, then it makes some sense, otherwise I am
corn-fused. Grex has been a beacon for the light of unlimited access. I would
hate to see that change. Jenna, there are people who get confused about the
anykey, but understand quickly given the right teacher. If I get impatient
here it is only due to smarty-pants that know everything and are afraid to
share. I find knowledge and skill in lots of places. Invite the world, the
world is coming anyway.
omni
response 93 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 20:34 UTC 1997

 It takes less than 5 minutes to complete newuser. It's free, meaning no one
is going to bug you to leave a charge card number before you get access. I
think Grex as it is, is one of the best things going on the net. In other
words, if it aint broke, don't fix it.
robh
response 94 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 22:13 UTC 1997

jenna makes a valid point in #90 - if these theoretical potential
users can't figure out newuser, how the *^&()*^ are they supposed
to figure out PicoSpan, or even BackTalk?  Honestly...
richard
response 95 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 22:14 UTC 1997

Indeed, if grex wasntopen access, if newuser required validation, THEN
oppositionto unregisterd reading wouldmake sens.  But as is, this is onlhy
an extension of thepolicy already in place.  It wouldnt changeanything.
ladymoon
response 96 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 22:44 UTC 1997

Well, Valerie's didn't pass. Mary, may I ask you to resign yours before it
comes to a vote? As the vote on the other one suggests, there is approximately
an even split amongst Grex's total user base that voted over this issue, and
your current proposal does nothing more than incite that, and encourage ill
will and feelings. Please, again, I ask you- unpropose this.
richard
response 97 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 22:50 UTC 1997

hmm...if Mary'smotionpasses and unregisteredreadingis allowed and Jenna takes
scott
response 98 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 22 22:56 UTC 1997

Perhaps some of the "no" voters would prefer an all-or-nothing solution. 

We really won't know unless we vote.  And I hope we don't have anyone so 
thin-skinned that a vote scares them away even before we know the 
outcome.
mary
response 99 of 367: Mark Unseen   Feb 23 02:25 UTC 1997

I believe it is in Grex's best interest to direct policy toward keeping
this a diverse and open community.  Making it easy for folks to find out
more about us is important.  Also, I don't at all get into the concept
that we who have found Grex are any "better" than those who have not and
that we need Newuser as a gatekeeper to keep undesirables from getting a
preview of what we're about. In fact, I see that reasoning as somewhat
abhorrent. 

I really don't know how this vote will go.  But I do feel it is
the right thing to take it, as worded in #0, to the members.
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