Newsgroups: comp.parallel,comp.arch
From: Comp Parallel <rmuise>
Reply-To: 881045m
Subject: Re: [Admin] Full Disclosure (was Apology)
Organization: Acadia University
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 15:17:02 GMT
Message-ID: <1995Jan12.151702.20028@relay.acadiau.ca>

rmuise (Comp Parallel) writes:

>I have censored messages before. In mid-December, Comp.Parallel was hit with
>a number of ads from someone trying to sell Christmas cards. I did not
>post them, as 1) this group was not for that, and 2) i did not really expect
>many people in Comp.Parallel to be Christian or celebrate Christmas. 
>Also in the above mentioned British vs Indian computers (cross-posted to
>soc.culture.india), I quickly removed comp.parallel from the newsgroups
>line. If the fight continued later, it continued without Comp.Parallel.


Ok, I'll admit, I'm surprized by the response from this paragraph. So I feel 
I should post one last time about this subject. 

The original posting to comp.parallel and comp.arch, was followed by two
e-mail messages to my account, asking why I would post such a thing. 
I realized that I had made a mistake and posted an apology.

Next, I posted a follow up, part of which has been included above. It 
discussed the two postings I did not allow, both of which were ads for
Christmas cards from the same person. I just checked my mailbox for my
responses to his ads. I told him that I was the moderator and I decide
what gets posted and what does not get posted to the news group. I also
explained that posting ads was not a great way to make friends on the Internet
(not illegal, but opens up his account for mail-bombing from people who
dislike seeing ads on the Internet). My last statement to him was that the
Internet was not wholey Christian and many readers might not even celebrate
Christmas. 

Unfortunately, it is this phrase, echoed in my follow-up to my apology that
has created more contreversy. I have since received 3 e-mail messages 
stating that I should not censor the original posting, but that not
posting the Christmas cards was a good idea. One mailer also thought that
maybe the moderator should be more like an editor, which I admit is an
interesting question, but that I don't really have the time to do things
like double check sources, etc. I do try to read the posts before I submit
them, checking for foul language and the like (which I've never encountered,
so kudos to you all!).

So I'd like to explain what I meant by 'most readers are not Christian." I've
now received 15 mailings all asking roughly the same question "What, exactly
did you mean by that?!" What I guess I should have said was something along
the lines of "Christianity is only one of many religions the readers of
Comp.Parallel belong to." I've tried very hard this morning to find out
the actual world population of each religion, but I could only find a 
break down by country (the CIA WWW World Fact Book 1994). Again, I meant
nothing about anyone from any religion reading or not reading Comp.Parallel
due to their religion, only that Comp.Parallel is a diverse group, reflecting
the diversity of the world in general. The only thing that any of us can
claim about this group is that it is for people who's interests include
parallel computing. Any generalizations beyond that are dangerous.

Thank you all,
richard

If you want to discuss this with me, I will personally resond to all e-mail,
but it makes it easier for me to email me at 881045m@dragon.acadiau.ca
so that I don't assume that you want your views posted by mailing
rmuise@dragon.







