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Date:         Thu, 21 Jan 1993 19:10:43 -0600
From:         "David S. Shores" <MSCC1F@JETSON.UH.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Ops and all this private garbage.

>   I was just wondering about these private and super duper private channels.
>We now have this incredible selection of channels but can the ops monitor all
>these channels?  Is there any place that we can talk without any fear of the
>varied tempered ops? Don't mean to cause any trouble just wondering about some
>of the parameters of this incredible communication devices. :)
>  See-ya
>    PEETA! aka Dr.Suess
>PS- What exactly is the point where the descriptive becomes obscene.  It might
>be good to know.  :p


Operators can only monitor the channel they are on.  The idea of the sneaky
operator sitting off on channel 1234557 monitoring what is going on on channel
333 or channel 69 is a myth.  It's an often perpetuated myth, just like the
myth of giant albino gators in the sewers of New York City.  Sorry to disappoint
anyone who is really into the glamor of mystery and intrigue.

Now, for the point where descriptive becomes obscene.  This is a much more
tricky question.  First of all, we have to look at the reason relay has all of
those rules that seem to smack of "censorship."  There are several issues here,
but the bottom line is that the sites that run Relay do so only as long as
the node administrators at those sites deem it useful enough to exist, or
at least as long as they don't consider it detrimental.  Now, if they see
topics like "Vaxinator eats s**t!" or "Selling good dope on channel 666,"
guess what, folks?  It looks to them like relay has become something that
they would just rather not see running on *their* machine.  They feel it makes
their university look bad, and besides, some of them just don't like relay in
the first place.  So, byebye relay.  Sure whoever put up that hilarious topic
got a kick out of it, and because his free speech wasn't tempered by good
judgement, a lot of people lose relay.  The same rationale goes for why we
don't allow foul language on public channels, and why we don't allow some
relayers to abuse other relayers.  Use your heads and your good judgement,
folks.  Most of you are adults.  Fun is fun, but use common sense.  You can
all have fun and prove to everyone just how cute and clever you can be without
using foul language on public channels, without exercising poor judgement on
your /topics, and without abusing anyone else.  Can't you???

I know that didn't quite answer the "when does it become obscene" question.
The reason why it doesn't is because that is just an unanswerable question.
Everyone must just try to use good judgement on this one.  There will be some
disagreements about it.  Just try to imagine that someone whose high opinion
you value is watching everything you say on a public channel.  If you think
something you would say would offend or embarrass that person, think of a
different way to express the thought.  Surely you are all facile enough with
words to do this.

I hope I've managed to answer the questions satisfactorily without sounding
like I want to rain on anyone's parade.  The fact is that you can say anything
you want on a private channel so long as you don't abuse anyone else.  The
fact that you can't say it publicly might be construed as a form of censorship.
If so, that's unfortunate, but pragmatically, have we any choice, folks?  The
choice is between tolerating a rather mild form of "censorship," and doing
without relay.  It is a choice each of you gets to make the very first time
you send that /signon command.

Dave/Roadman
Aggieland RelayOp