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Ahouxg.114 net.general utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ihnss!houxi!houxd!houxc!hound!houti!houxt!houxn!houxg!glenn Tue Jan 19 14:58:40 1982 RE: net.jokes.q at HOCC Well, thank you for clearing the air about net.jokes.q, Mel. Now the rumors will stop, hopefully.

I found it interesting however, that someone in your position as "the HO UNIX Counselor" (funny, I thought there was more than just *ONE* UNIX counselor at HO) would take it upon himself to determine which purposes are "useful" and "helpful", and which are "stupid" and "crud" (the quoted terms are yours, not mine, and quite in context I might add.) It seems to me that one outstanding characteristics of most of the users of this net is the polite respect/regard for the ideas of others (viz: naming/creating new groups, discussions on how to implement network map, bug fixes, etc.) In contrast, you took back-door action which has affected the network and its subscribers without even mentioning your intentions on the network to other BTL folks, who are also "citizens of the BTL usenet community" (your words again.)

The really ironic thing about the loss of jokes.q at HO is that many of us jokes.q contributors/readers (myself included) would probably agree (reluctantly perhaps) that yes, net.jokes.q doesn't really belong on HO machines because it puts BTL in the position of implicitly sanctioning material which could be misinterpreted as discriminatory, and why get the company in trouble? But as for your stated reasons, the lack of "sensitivity to the hurt words can have on others" (quoting you again) I can think of no other set of jokes I have ever heard which had so many disclaimers of malice: Many of the jokes used only the term "Ethnic" as a neutral substitute to avoid mentioning any particular group. Several contributors used fictional ethnic group names. I contributed at least one joke about my own ethnic minority (without mentioning it by name.) To me, it is clear that there was no intent at offense. But even so, I wouldn't have minded seeing jokes.q disappear if it hadn't been handled Lone Ranger style. When you decide that net.movies, net.cycle or net.sports, (all of which you have deemed "at WORST neutral" and "[not] really 'useful' perhaps") are going to have to go, won't you let the rest of us know first?

- Glenn Golden (houxg!glenn OR ihnss!houxg!lime!gdg)

<FLAME OFF>, to quote a USENET quotable.

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