ADMIN: f.rat, etc.

[Ben Cohen]

For f.rat (and others), here's the deal:

Some of the messages that he sent were, to put it nicely, somewhat
inflammatory. If I were being less nice, I would say that they were at least
deranged. In any event, as I've warned previously, my response was swift and
harsh - I forcibly unsubscribed him. He then resubscribed.

Since I was unwilling to allow him to continue to rant while I was not
continually monitoring the list, I immediately placed him on "REVIEW". This
means that all of his attempted postings to the list would be sent to me first
for moderator review. Once I approve them (provided that I do, in fact,
release them), I can tell LISTSERV to allow them to be posted to the list.

To be honest, his actions / reactions following this have not prompted me to
particularly want to even continue viewing his messages. As far as I can
determine, he has: 1) accused me of stifling free speech; 2) misrepresented
someone else's character; 3) forged email.

In response to (1) - yes, there is free speech in the US. However, this is not
a forum which is, of necessity, protected by it. This is a mailing list run
for the benefit of the subscribers at the whim of the moderator. If you don't
like it, please feel free to start up another mailing list where you can say
anything you'd like to and everyone who subscribes needs to listen to it.
Free speech protection says that I can't shut down your own mailing list; it
doesn't give you the right to crap on mine.

I won't deal with (2) since that's up to the injured party to decide how he
wishes to proceed, however I will say that failing to apologize for it is
unlikely to make me want to restore your mailing list privileges here and may
serve to further reduce them.

As for (3), if you continue forging email (and I now have evidence of at least
2 instances, 1 of which I received), I will have no compunction whatsoever
about turning the information (including mail logs and other evidence) to the
proper authorities. Given the current climate, I'm sure they will be ecstatic
to chase down anyone who has committed any form of computer crime.

f.rat - if you wish to discuss this reasonably, you are more than welcome to
contact me directly at <ben at tmk.com>. If you wish to be unreasonable, I will
remove your posting and reading rights from the mailing list and contact your
ISP since I would believe that there is a possibility you are in violation of
their Appropriate Use Policy. If you wish to continue perpetrating criminal
activity, the appropriate authorities will be informed. Consider this a clear
message that you would best be served by ratcheting down your emotions and
attempting to be a civilized being.

Ben Cohen
moderator, BOC-L