From: micky_wong@vnet.ibm.com (Micky Wong)
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 19:33:30 EST
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china,talk.politics.china
Subject: What is Usenet?

The following are excerpts from "Zen and the Art of the Internet" --
"A Beginner's Guide to the Internet", by Brendan P.Kehoe.
Copyright c 1992 Brendan P. Kehoe.

..................................

     The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is widely misunder-
 stood. Every day on Usenet the "blind men and the elephant" phenomenon
 appears, in spades.  In the opinion of the author, more flame wars (rabid
 arguments) arise because of a lack of understanding of the nature of Usenet
 than from any other source.  And consider that such flame wars arise, of
 necessity,  among people who are on Usenet.  Imagine,  then,  how poorly
 understood Usenet must be by those outside!

     No essay on the nature of Usenet can ignore the erroneous impressions
 held by many Usenet users. Therefore, this section will treat falsehoods
 first. Keep reading for truth. (Beauty, alas, is not relevant to Usenet.)


 4.1  What Usenet Is


     Usenet is the set of machines that exchange articles tagged with one
 or more universally-recognized labels, called newsgroups (or "groups" for
 short).  (Note that the term `newsgroup' is correct, while `area', `base',
 Command                                  Keys:  PgUp PgDn F10=exit F1=Hel
 `board', `bboard', `conference', `round table', `SIG', etc. are incorrect. If
 you want to be understood, be accurate.)


 4.2  The Diversity of Usenet

     If the above definition of Usenet sounds vague, that's because it is. It
 is almost impossible to generalize over all Usenet sites in any non-trivial
 way.Usenet encompasses government agencies, large universities, high schools,
 businesses of all sizes, home computers of all descriptions, etc.

     Every administrator controls his own site.  No one has any real control
 over any site but his own. The administrator gets his power from the owner
 of the system he administers. As long as the owner is happy with the job the
 administrator is doing, he can do whatever he pleases, up to and including
 cutting off Usenet entirely. C'est la vie.


 4.3  What Usenet Is Not
 Usenet is not an organization.

              Usenet has no central authority.  In fact, it has no central any-
              thing. There is a vague notion of "upstream" and "downstream"
              related to the direction of high-volume news flow. It follows
            that, to the extent that "upstream" sites decide what traffic
            they will carry for their "downstream" neighbors, that "upstream"
              sites have some influence on their neighbors. But such influence
              is usually easy to circumvent, and heavy-handed manipulation
              typically results in a backlash of resentment.

 Usenet is not a democracy.

              A democracy can be loosely defined as "government of the peo-
              ple, by the people, for the people." However, as explained above,
              Usenet is not an organization, and only an organization can be
              run as a democracy.  Even a democracy must be organized, for
              if it lacks a means of enforcing the peoples' wishes, then it may
              as well not exist.

              Some people wish that Usenet were a democracy. Many people
              pretend that it is. Both groups are sadly deluded.

 Usenet is not fair.

              After all, who shall decide what's fair? For that matter, if
              someone is behaving unfairly, who's going to stop him?
              Neither you nor I, that's certain.

 Usenet is not a right.

              Some  people  misunderstand  their  local  right  of  "freedom of
              speech" to mean that they have a legal right to use others' com-
              puters to say what they wish in whatever way they wish, and
              the owners of said computers have no right to stop them.

              Those people are wrong. Freedom of speech also means freedom
              not to speak; if I choose not to use my computer to aid your
              speech, that is my right. Freedom of the press belongs to those
              who own one.

 Usenet is not a public utility.

              Some Usenet sites are publicly funded or subsidized.  Most of
              them, by plain count, are not. There is no government monopoly
              on Usenet, and little or no control.

 .........................  Lines deleted for brevity  .................


 4.6  If You're Unhappy: : :


     Property rights being what they are,  there is no higher authority on
 Usenet than the people who own the machines on which Usenet traffic is
 carried. If the owner of the machine you use says, "We will not carry alt.sex
 on this machine," and you are not happy with that order, you have no Usenet
 recourse. What can we outsiders do, after all?

     That doesn't mean you are without options.  Depending on the nature
 of your site, you may have some internal political recourse.  Or you might
 find external pressure helpful. Or, with a minimal investment, you can get a
 feed of your own from somewhere else. Computers capable of taking Usenet
 feeds are down in the $500 range now, Unix-capable boxes are going for
 under $2000, and there are at least two Unix lookalikes in the $100 price
 range.

     No matter what, appealing to "Usenet" won't help.  Even if those who
 read such an appeal regarding system administration are sympathetic to
 your cause, they will almost certainly have even less influence at your site
 than you do.

     By the same token, if you don't like what some user at another site is
 doing, only the administrator and/or owner of that site have any authority to
 do anything about it. Persuade them that the user in question is a problem
 for them, and they might do something (if they feel like it).  If the user in
 question is the administrator or owner of the site from which he or she posts,
 forget it; you can't win.  Arrange for your newsreading software to ignore
 articles from him or her if you can, and chalk one up to experience.

   **************************************************************************

 Poster's note:

   Usenet is a good example that there could be no perfect system with
human race which is defective by natural (or God's) design.

   It is also a showcase that there is a price to pay for democracy, that
is *** TOLERANCE ***.


   Any lunatic armed with some computer and network knowledge, can get a unix
lookalike which only costs in the $100 price range to achieve the mischief
of polluting the network with obscenities, obnoxious abusive behaviours.

   There is no perfect method to protect oneself from offensive behaviours
of some grotesque and repulsive characters on the net yet, but just like
we can still seek pleasure in rain or snow by putting on our rubber boots,
we shall be able to waddle through unsightly puddles to reach our destination.

   I agree that the most effective method to cleanse your incoming mail, is
what Mr Feng Yu and Mr Charles Roten suggested, use kill file to filter out
those mails which may appear offensive to you.

   There are many other options to assure your perusal pleasure on the net,
one of it is to develop a more tolerant,objective and impersonal view
towards other's behaviours, ask yourself why those character behave in such
manner? once you figured out why, it is very possible that you are going to
have a good laugh!

   Usenet is a good place to express and exchange our views, to learn from
others, I sincerely hope that most netters can get the best of it.


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