From: dwitkow@eis.calstate.edu (David T. Witkowski)
Date: Wed, 11 May 94 20:26:49 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Cypherpunks Goals: Bad debate drives out good debate
Message-ID: <9405120326.AA14746@eis.calstate.edu>
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I agree that there is a lot of "static".  In fact, I'm choosing to leave
the cypherpunks list for that reason.

Simply put, I'm spending a lot of time reading posts, many good, but some
clueless.  Example:  Ten minutes after someone posted the location of PGP
2.5 we got three posts asking "Where can I get PGP 2.5?" and subsequent
responses of "Yeah, me too!"  The original poster had a legitimate
question, assuming that he had JUST signed onto the list, but he could have
directed his questions towards the original announcer, but those subsequent
"votes" for information were completely unnecessary.

These kinds of problems are inherent in the structure of network
communication.  (I long for the creation of artificial intelligence
twit-filter daemons to help me separate the wheat from the chaff.  Read
David Brin's 'Earth' for an interesting portrayal of the future of such
beasts.)

Perhaps lessons can be found in the Usenet world.  Knowing the location of
some cypher-oriented FAQs and FTP sites upon subscription to this list
might defer some of the more trivial traffic.  Inclusion of some
net-iquette guidelines in the list-server welcome message might defer even
more.  To be relevant, such things would have to be updated frequently,
meaning more work for the keepers, but I think that the subsequent
distillation of list traffic would pay off in better, more effective
posting.

In fairness, I'd have to say that I've learned many things in the past
three days.  But the original reason I joined this list was to ask for
information on basic analog voice encryption techniques, a request that
went completely unanswered.  I find the subject interesting, I just can't
justify the time I'm spending sorting through 40+ posts per day.

...dtw

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