HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin)
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:52:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: stanley.sfgloINN59o
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
NNTP-Posting-Host: cslab5b.cs.brown.edu

In article <1992Apr13.164738.24549@panix.com> gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch) writes:
>cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>
>| Ah, heck, I'll tell you why.  It's true, I'm laughing at you; not because
>| you're funny, but because you're a little sad, in a pathetic sort of way.
>| Offhand (this is your daily clue), I can't imagine anything more pathetic
>| than being serious about something silly.  (This is your cue for a real
>| snappy repartee.)
>
>I don't think you're laughing at me; I don't think you can
>answer the questions in a way that isn't embarrassing to
>you, for some reason, and one way of avoiding them is 
>clowning.

Hoka hey!  You vant answers, zen!  Ha!  Vell, I giff you answers!

It's true; I can't tell you why people post to cascades.  Nor can anyone.
It's damn easy to make up something that sounds nice and plausible, as any
baby academic learns before it can walk, but facts are another beast
entirely.  It's foolish to speculate on matters you have no way of knowing.
That's why people laugh at alt.postmodern.  Well, it might not be why people
laugh at alt.postmodern, but it's why I laugh at alt.postmodern.

But what I can tell you is why _I've_ posted to cascades.  (Not here, of
course; I may be silly but I am not crass.)  It's pretty simple, actually:
to be clever.  That's what groups like talk.bizarre and alt.slack are for.
It's a silly thing to do but it's hardly the first malicious manifestation
of a global electronic conspiracy aimed at suppressing the disempowered
voices of alt.po-mo.

>However, three iterations of you exhibiting your contempt for 
>things and people you don't know anything about is getting 
>pretty boring, too.

Wahoo!  I live to bore.  Personally I think it's better to get some nice
wholesome contempt out in the open than to blither and mumble like a mangy
English professor; but this is as we say a personal opinion, and is not
reflected by scientific polls.  Probably the blither-and-mumble bit goes down
better in some parts.

After all, I hate to get picky, but you don't know anything more about
cascades than I do about deconstructionist theory.

>Maybe I should have left the cascades alone.

Maybe so.

c
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
From: gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch)
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 13:31:54 GMT
Organization: mydog in exile

In article <29EB0E0D.4492@tct.com> chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
| According to gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch):
| >Apparently not everybody has the necessary software;
| 
| No excuse: it's free.
| 
| >or they don't know how to use it;
| 
| No excuse: there are manuals.

I guess you're assuming that everyone is a techie.  I've
been trying to get other kinds of people involved in the net.
Believe it or not, computer people do not have any kind of
monopoly on intellection or wit.
-- 
* Gordon Fitch    |    gcf@panix.com 
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.postmodern
From: gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch)
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 21:57:53 GMT
Organization: mydog in exile

| >In article <29EB0E0D.4492@tct.com> chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
| >| >or they don't know how to use it;
| >| 
| >| No excuse: there are manuals.

gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch) writes:
| >I guess you're assuming that everyone is a techie.  I've
| >been trying to get other kinds of people involved in the net.
| >Believe it or not, computer people do not have any kind of
| >monopoly on intellection or wit.

callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) writes:
| Exactly.  There are plenty of clever non-techies.  There's no excuse for them
| not to read the manuals and learn to use kill files.

You misunderstand me.  I'm not talking about whether people
have excuses or not according to someone's idea of what's
just or right.  There are people I want on the net because
they're bright or witty or have original ideas or know something.
They don't want to be programmers, any more than everyone who
drives a car wants to be an auto mechanic.  As a set of people,
computer programmers have a rather narrow view of the world,
which this discussion itself demonstrates.  Doesn't it?
-- 
* Gordon Fitch    |    gcf@panix.com 
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.religion.kibology,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
From: kibo@world.std.com (James 'Kibo' Parry)
Subject: Freedom (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Organization: A room filled with typography (in Boston's Back Bay)
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 01:37:18 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.224358.29991@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>:
>: It's a free country, you know.
>
>Somewhat. The freedoms are disappearing at a rapid rate.

Why--that ought to be NOT ALLOWED!!!

							-- K.

Xref: sparky news.misc:955 alt.config:3019 alt.drugs:7777 alt.postmodern:1309
From: kaminski@netcom.com (Peter Kaminski)
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism
Date: 16 Apr 92 16:17:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.b0zj=_l.kaminski
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Information Deli

[alt.angst removed; "Distribution: usa" added since the following
information is US-specific]

In <1992Apr15.152940.22295@amhux2.amherst.edu> Tim Pierce writes:

>Who says they necessarily could?  Many of them, I'll bet, do not have
>computers in their home, are not connected to the Internet, and/or are
>not located near public access Unix sites.  Conceivably they COULD use
>a public access site even in these circumstances, but only after
>considerable expense.

Just to put some numbers with that....  These are "median" numbers;
obviously they are part of a range that starts at $0 and goes up.

Getting online:
$125          decent used terminal (bought at retail)

 $75          new 2400 baud external modem, cables

Connect time:
 $20/month    full Usenet/Internet capabilities including news, email
              (both with choice of readers), Unix shell, 5M disk
              storage, ftp, telnet, irc, etc.

Telecom charges:
 $30/month    30 off-peak hours, 2400 baud packet-switched network


That's for premium public access, dialable from most places in the US;
many localities will have very low-cost local BBS access to Usenet, at
least.

-- 
Peter Kaminski
kaminski@netcom.com
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.fan.john-palmer,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...)
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 17:44:53 GMT

gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch) writes:

>Probably, we're doomed to an increasing tide of this sort of
>thing as more and more people get on the net.  Most people are
>completely hooked into the established order, having had the
>mass media, especially network television, brainwash them for
>thousands of hours before they're even out of childhood.  If
>you doubt this, just look around.  The Net is hardly different
>from the schoolyard, where young thugs emulate the teachers
>indoors by enforcing what "everybody" knows is right.

I think you're reading too much into this.  I don't believe it's some sort of
Orwellian plot.  To me, it seems more like a way for people who aren't
especially imaginative to feel like they're clever, and obtain their proverbial
15 minutes of fame.

This sort of free association can be amusing at times, but at this scale so
many people are responding purely out of obligation that there's little life
left in it.  It reminds me of the unbearable punning sessions I was often
forced to sit through when I was in a science fiction society as an undergrad.

Some people just don't understand when a joke gets old.

--
Paul Callahan       | "... the 'spineless prickly pear' ... this long-neglected 
callahan@cs.jhu.edu | gift of nature, which now promises to be of as great or 
                    | even greater value to the human race than the discovery 
BIFF WHERE ARE YOU? | of steam."                      -- Luther Burbank, 1911
From: s913391@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Antony Ross Lazarus)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: URGENTLY Wanted Address
Date: 13 Apr 92 19:03:42 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre, Melbourne Australia.

The following address is urgently wanted: University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Please send the Internet address (if it's on Internet) to:

s913391@yallara.cs.rmit.oz.au

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Walrus GOO GOO GOO JOOB      |            email welcome:
                                 |
"I am he as you are he as you    |       s913391@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au
 are me and we are all together" |       s913391@yallara.xx.rmit.oz.au (pref.)
				 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: news.misc
From: mi@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Mark Interrante)
Subject: Public access to news
Organization: University of North Texas, Denton
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1992 18:00:53 GMT

I have two friends that need access to internet mail and news.  I have 
heard that there are low cost public services available.  Can someone
please point me to the appropiate sources.

Mark Interrante
mi@ponder.csci.unt.edu

Ps. one of the individuals lives in the SF bay area, other in Dallas.
Xref: sparky news.misc:891 alt.config:2858 alt.drugs:7453 alt.postmodern:1215 alt.angst:1251
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
Subject: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...)
Date: 10 Apr 92 22:43:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpcvaac.1992Apr10.224358.29991
Organization: Hewlett-Parkard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA

cgy@cs.brown.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
: >
: >So what are you saying?  That some people have a right
: >to discuss what they want in the newsgroups of their
: >choice, and others don't, and you're the judge?
: 
: Hey, hey!  Let's not get paranoid about this.  Christ, I can practically
: hear your teeth chattering from coffee and cold rage.  Relax.  Take a
: Valium.  And remember:
: 
: You have a perfectly good right to post foolish babble.
: 
: I have a perfectly good right to say you're a babbling fool.

It goes right along with your right to also post foolish babble.
Nice to see that you also believe in exercising that right.

: It's a free country, you know.

Somewhat. The freedoms are disappearing at a rapid rate.

: c

Bill
Xref: sparky news.misc:957 alt.config:3022 alt.postmodern:1311
From: kaminski@netcom.com (Peter Kaminski)
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.postmodern
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Date: 16 Apr 92 17:21:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.6!1jayr.kaminski
Organization: The Information Deli

>They don't want to be programmers, any more than everyone who
>drives a car wants to be an auto mechanic.

To extend the car analogy a little further, kill file support in a
newsreader is like windshield wipers on a car.

The first cars may not have had them, or they may have required a
mechanic to install and operate, but they soon became standard,
easy-to-use equipment -- and they're indispensable during stormy
weather.
From: fritz@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu (Daniel Gil Aharon)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: KILL files?
Summary: by author?
Date: 17 Apr 92 04:38:33 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Apr17.043833.13879
Organization: Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-13812]: convex1.tcs.tulane.edu

sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but would someone please tell me
how to edit a newsgroup's killfile to kill articles by a specific
author, instead of by subject line. is there a command in rn that does
this, as it automatically can kill subjects?
thanks for any info.
fritz

--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A dog is just a dog. Until he looks at you. Then he's Mr. Dog. And remember,
when you need air support, just call it in. - Hube Dodd, Sr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fritz@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: news.misc
From: gritton@alaska.caedm.byu.edu (Jamie Gritton)
Subject: Re: Smilemakers
Lines: 16
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 13:15:40 MDT
Organization: Brigham Young University, Provo UT USA
Reply-To: gritton@byu.edu

jshg1134@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jeffrey S. Hoeft) writes:

>Smilemakers has asked for assistance in making a little boy's dream
>come true.

[You know the rest.]

This can't be for real. Can it?

Poor Craig Shergold will probably die of old age before this bogosity stops.




--
James Gritton - gritton@byu.edu - I disclaim
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.religion.kibology,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
From: kibo@world.std.com (James 'Kibo' Parry)
Subject: brain cells (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Organization: A room filled with typography (in Boston's Back Bay)
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 01:44:59 GMT

In article <29E64233.20043@ics.uci.edu> honig@ics.uci.edu (David A. Honig) writes:
> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>>honig@thalia.ics.uci.edu (David A. Honig) writes:
>>
>>: "Oh, a vegetarian, eh?  Well, at my house, even the plants eat meat."
>>
>>I love it. Is it original?
>>
>Yep.  Got a new roomie a few months ago, and the dude grows carnivorous
>plants.  As a hobby.  In real life, he grows brain cells on petri dishes.
>Just perfect.

I wonder if he could grow some of said cells on alt.alien.visitors.

							-- K.

Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
From: sjsobol@wariat.org (Steven J. Sobol)
Subject: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...)
Organization: The Tiny Software Co., via APK Public Access Unix, Cleveland
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 19:00:07 GMT


Gordon Fitch:

>| >>No, I think it's _you_ not getting it.  The whole point of the
>| >>cascades and other, similar exercises, is to vandalize and thereby 
>| >>efface certain newsgroups -- certain discourses.

And,

>Following up your own articles?  In public?  Isn't that
>considered a perversion?

Yeah. Oh well.

>Anyway, Steve seems to be following the old Usenet 
>formula, "If someone describes something, he or she must
>approve of it."  I'm not sure what the cost of "noise" on

I went back to check your original post, just to make sure I didn't
take anything totally out of context. Unfortunately the article had expired,
so I'm going to have to go on what I have here. Anyhow, the reason I flamed 
you was because it sounded like you were defending cascades. Especially with
that opening, "No, YOU don't get it"... if you hadn't written that I might
not have interpreted it the same way. It's just that those words are good
words to start an argument with, and that's what I thought you were trying
to do.

Send me a casette tape of your voice while saying the above paragraph, 
and I'm sure I'll understand a lot better.

I don't think noise is good either. If I'm going to argue with someone,
I'd rather do it via mail than via news. If you want to continue the
discussion, my mailbox is open.

-s


-- 
***  **  ** | The Tiny Software Company | Steve Sobol
 *  *   *   | Software Publishing,      | President, CEO & Janitor
 *   *  *   | Training & Consulting     | sjsobol@tiny.wariat.org
 *    * *   | 23707 Glenhill Drive      | ag510@cleveland.freenet.edu
 *  **   ** | Cleveland, OH 44122,  USA | {uunet|backbone}!tiny!sjsobol
From: ttl@dream.cs.wisc.edu (Tony Laundrie)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: News via uunet email
Date: 8 Apr 92 16:06:13 GMT
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization

How do I read and/or write just one newsgroup via uunet email?
I heard there's a site where I can subscribe to certain newsgroups.

					ttl@cs.wisc.edu
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern,alt.angst
From: chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg)
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 12:46:00 GMT
Organization: TC Telemanagement, Clearwater, FL

According to asbestos@nwu.edu (Michael A. Atkinson):
>chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
>>Unlike, say, a room, you can put 100 or 1000 people in a newsgroup.
>>And cascade posts can usually be killed with one keystroke by people
>>using threaded newsgreaders (a reasonable step in any case).
>>
>>So where is the "deprivation"?
>
>People pay for newsfeed.

"Raising the cost of X" is _not_ the same as "depriving of X".  The
former _can_ cause the latter in a few atypical cases, true.  But my
understanding is that, given typical high-capacity links, the cascades
aren't even a hiccup in the flow.

>And, believe it or not, some newsreaders do not support the Kill
>function.

In this day and age, to use, by choice, a newsreader without thread
following -- much less a kill function -- is stupid.  It wastes your
valuable time, day after day, as you end up reading things that you
know ahead of time are of no interest to you.

Cascades and similar pranks will not go away.  Adapt or leave.
-- 
Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT  <chip@tct.com>, <73717.366@compuserve.com>
      "Informix 4GL is not a 4G, and it's barely an L."  -- John Tombs
Xref: sparky news.misc:956 alt.config:3020 alt.postmodern:1310
From: kaminski@netcom.com (Peter Kaminski)
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.postmodern
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism (was: Re: alt.cascade anyone? (was Re: Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeee...))
Date: 16 Apr 92 16:32:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.t0zjz-m.kaminski
Organization: The Information Deli

In <1992Apr15.215753.18575@panix.com> Gordon Fitch writes:

>callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) writes:
>| Exactly.  There are plenty of clever non-techies.  There's no excuse for them
>| not to read the manuals and learn to use kill files.

>They don't want to be programmers, any more than everyone who
>drives a car wants to be an auto mechanic.  As a set of people,
>computer programmers have a rather narrow view of the world,
>which this discussion itself demonstrates.  Doesn't it?

In nn, at least (available at full-service public access sites -- the
site I use costs $20/month, not including phone charges), the
"programming" involved consists of hitting the "K" key, and following
the on-screen prompts.  The first is

  AUTO (k)ill or (s)elect (CR => Kill subject 30 days)

If "Kill subject 30 days" is okay, all that's needed is a <cr>.
Otherwise, here are the subsequent prompts:

  prompt                                                   typical reply

  AUTO (k)ill or (s)elect (CR => Kill subject 30 days)     k
  AUTO KILL on (s)ubject or (n)ame  (s)                    n
  KILL Name: (=/)                                          Biff
  KILL in (g)roup 'news.misc' or in (a)ll groups  (g)      g
  Lifetime of entry in days (p)ermanent  (30)              14
  CONFIRM KILL Name 30 days exact: Biff                    y

-- 
Peter Kaminski
kaminski@netcom.com
Xref: sparky news.misc:879 comp.sources.d:749 sci.crypt:1833 misc.legal:9005 alt.society.civil-liberty:3298
From: jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Newsgroups: news.misc,comp.sources.d,sci.crypt,misc.legal,alt.society.civil-liberty
Subject: Imminent death of Usenet in USA predicted (was Re: DES encryption)
Date: 8 Apr 92 02:56:22 GMT
Reply-To: jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Followup-To: comp.org.eff.talk,news.misc,misc.legal,alt.society.civil-liberty
Distribution: comp
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

In article <JIK.92Apr6225940@pit-manager.mit.edu>, jik@athena (Jonathan I. Kamens) writes:
>In article <JGJ.92Apr6150320@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com> jgj@ssd.csd.harris.com (Jeff Jackson) writes:
>   Between this and the posting of copyrighted pictures in
>   the alt.binaries.pictures groups, I will be surprised if USENET is
>   still around by the end of the year.
>
>"Imminent death of the USENET predicted.  Film at 11."

OK, here's my stab at it:

It'll just be a law requiring licensing of electronic publishing which
must be implemented to fight the crime and unacceptable activity on
electronic networks like the numerous copyright fraud, obscene speech,
unAmerican activies, conspiratory action, credit card violations,
child pornography, encouragement to drug use (alt.drugs,
talk.politics.drugs), encouragement to violence (talk.politics.guns),
threats to national security (sci.crypt, alt.conspiracy), sexual
deviations (soc.motss, alt.sex.bestiality), computer criminality
(alt.hackers, alt.security).  Expect it to appear in a generic
anti-crime bill from your friendly administration which brought you
the War on Constitution, civil forfeitures, FCC bans on radio waves
and all the other things which are needed to fight crime.

It will be a new law designed for the purpose of limiting unsupervised
information exchange needed to limit increasing computer crime,
copyright violations, child pornography, terrorism and credit card and
wire fraud.  Perhaps it could be implemented by requiring reporting of
editors responsible for the contents of any public electronic forums,
requirements to have real names used everywhere, requirements of
cleartext communications (already proposed), requirements to respect
"community standards" on the media, requirements for "equal coverage"
and other such good-sounding rhetorics.  Perhaps by some other means.

Does that seem so impossible or improbable when looking at FCC content
restrictions, the proposal circulating to require the telephone
network to be built for the purpose of surveillance on everyone, the
civil forfeitures, the proposed anti-cryptography bill, all of the War
on Constitution legislation?

[ note followup-to ]

//Jyrki
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.postmodern
From: chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg)
Subject: Re: Newsgroup Vandalism
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 12:54:49 GMT
Organization: TC Telemanagement, Clearwater, FL

According to gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch):
>There are people I want on the net because they're bright or witty or
>have original ideas or know something.

Likewise.

>They don't want to be programmers, any more than everyone who
>drives a car wants to be an auto mechanic.

You don't need to be a programmer to use a threaded newsreader
with a KILL feature.

And you don't need to be a programmer to have a new newsreader
installed.  You just need to _know_ one who'll help you out.

Although no one need be a mechanic to _use_ a car, the _building_ of
cars is a job that requires skill.  Why should we expect the building
of a newsreader to need only unskilled labor?
-- 
Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT  <chip@tct.com>, <73717.366@compuserve.com>
      "Informix 4GL is not a 4G, and it's barely an L."  -- John Tombs
Newsgroups: news.misc,alt.config,alt.drugs,alt.postmodern,alt.angst