From: erc@unislc.uucp (Ed Carp)
Subject: Re: CHAPTER 3...
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 22:29:02 GMT

Lydia Uribe (uribe@jarthur.claremont.edu) wrote:

: In article <BuFLE8.Eyn@comp.vuw.ac.nz> Gavin.Flower@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Gavin
: Flower) writes:
: >In article <5mvnfy+.boserj@netcom.com> boserj@netcom.com (Jeffrey Boser)
: writes:
: >
: >>.....jeff
: >><smirk>  I know im going to get flamed bigtime for this one
: >
: >Should his local postmaster be informed about his misuse of email?
: 
: I have done so, and I would urge our non-anonymous readers/posters to do the
: same.  That post qualifies as abuse, in my opinion, and I will not just
: stand by and watch it happen.

OK, folks, time for us all to get a big dose of reality.  Looks like the
idiots from alt.suicide.holiday have wandered by to say hello in their own
ineffable way.  Hey, Jeff, take it to a.s.h., OK?  Gavin, I don't know, but
jerking the chain of his local postmaster may not do much good.  Maybe if we
ignore him, he'll go away...:)

OK, now for Lydia.  I had to sit down for a minute and think about Lydia's
comments and (1) figure out why they sounded a bit off to me, and (2) what
I could say constructive about it.  I'll use an example: several years
ago, I was a ham radio operator in Denver (well, I still am a ham, but not
in Denver).  We had this clown that would continually appear on one of
the local repeaters (a repeater is a machine that takes a weak radio signal,
amplifies it, and retransmits it, so that you have a wide audience).  He would
do stuff like sending "fuck you" in morse code, jam other operators, etc.
Much like your normal CB channel 19. :)

There was much discussion about what to do with this clown.  Drawing attention
to him by harassing him back on the air, moralizing or preaching to him was
just what he wanted - he wanted the attention.  So, what we did was to ignore
him.  In 90% of these cases, the jerks go away, and there is minimal
disruption.  Well, uh, he was one of the 10%.  So ... we set up a small
"sting" operation (the technical details are too deep to be appropriate here).
We found out where the guy lives by triangulating his signal, went up and
knocked on his door.  I wasn't actually at the guy's house (I was doing other
things on the technical end in support of the operation), but I hear the
guy moved the next day.  We published the guy's name and address and what
he had done in every amateur radio journal in the state of Colorado.

Calling him abusive *is* abusive in and of itself, not to mention the
vindictiveness of "he's an abuser, let's *punish* him".  Is this a case of the
abused becoming the abuser?  I don't know ... all I know is that this thing
can degenerate quickly into a flame war that will disrupt asar.  Let's not
let this happen.  If you have destructive comments to make, please don't
post them.  Keep them in email.  Thanks!
-- 
Ed Carp, N7EKG     erc@apple.com                801/538-0177
"This is the final task I will ever give you, and it  goes  on  forever.   Act
happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love,
and do what you will."           -- Dan Millman, "Way Of The Peaceful Warrior"
Newsgroups: alt.sexual.abuse.recovery