From: aa@iti.org (Aayush Asthana)
Subject: Welcome to SCI!!
Keywords: reason, culture, etiquette
Organization: Industrial Technology Institute
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 16:54:20 GMT

Welcome to SCI!  As the new year rolls in, soc.culture.indian
continues to flourish and prove a useful source of information and
discussion, for those who take interest in Indian culture and
society.  

Noted below, are some thoughts that I am re-posting for the benefit
of those who may be curious about the general goings on of this
public newsgroup.

Several reasons to be careful, when posting: 

Demagoguery: 	Although one can write with a certain flourish, it 
		is likely that any lucubrated deluge of words can 
		flood unsuspecting by-standers and newcomer's 
		sensibilities and *overcome* and *prevent* simpler
		postings.  Can smack of demagoguery.

Xenophobia:	There is no real `Keep Out' sign in SCI and there
		should not be one for anyone reading/writing
		on SCI.  It can be argued that if useful cultural
		discussion is prevented through waste of bandwidth
		and adroit penmanship, it effectively posts such a 
		xenophobic sign especially for those who 'are
		foreign/ new' to SCI and hesitate to post.

Hypocrisy:	By constant use of metaphors/allegories/analogies
		which are thinly veiled insults and cheap shots in
		reality, something intended personally, but aimed
		tangentially, advocates of no-holds-barred free
		speech mire themselves constantly in hypocrisy.

Etiquette:	While free-speech is not in question, what 
		becomes highly questionable is the inability of
		net-citizens to understand that every word they
		write goes into some archive somewhere, is read by
		people the world over, and in fact read by one's
		colleagues, ex-students, supervisors to-be, 
		possible soul-mates, and by one's near and dear ones
		which can include the nuclear family as well. 
		As they say the pen can be mightier than the sword,
		and can be instrumental in shaping reality.

Your Rights:	Everyone has a right to a clean in-offensive bboard
		-- there are several others (alt.flame, for one)
		that can accommodate a hasty posting.  Complain to
		a system administrator when cheap shots and insults
		take away from the `culture' of this group -- there
		is nothing wrong with this: it is the system
		administrators job to keep his end of the network
		clean -- leave 'herding cats' to the proper
		authority:  it results only in a rebuke based on the
		system administrators reading of the situation; if
		you abuse (hypothetically speaking) the system, and 
		you know the system administrator personally, then
		you may have extra leeway; abusing this privilege 
		will obviously cause him/her some added
		embarrassment even though you may not know this
		right away.

		Over the past history of Usenet, this method has
		worked best in terms of efficiency.	

What to Do:	When the concept of free speech becomes a masquerade
		it is in your interest to voice your opinion
		directly to those who can do something about it. 
		And remember it is you who set the etiquette and
		standards on the net.  There is no substitute for
		tact and responsibility, in this global society. 
		
Just a few thoughts.  Serious comments welcomed.

[] Regards,   | Industrial    :      _________ ___________ ___________
Aayush Asthana| Technology    :    /___   ___//___    ___//___    ___/
aa@iti.org    | Institute     :   ____/  /___    /  /    ____/  /____ 
(313) 769-4652| Ann Arbor, MI :  /__________/   /__/    /___________/