From: williams@va.arca.com (Jeff Williams)
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 14:20:25 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: "This post is G-Rated"
Message-ID: <1933823965.299772740@va.arca.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Tim May writes:

> So deal with the hypothetical I gave: someone like me sets out to "nuke"
> the labelling system by deliberately mislabelling his posts! If you have
> labels but no means of stopping my actions, see what results.

What if there was a flag on each message which the author could leave
"UNSPECIFIED" or indicate "NOT INTENDED FOR KIDS." You could attack by
marking a bunch of bland stuff "NIFK" or you could leave some porn
"UNSPECIFIED".  Either way, I think the situation is better for kids. I hope
that the majority of Internet users are not actively trying to get porn to
kids.

> A meaningful "parental filter" cannot be done on-the-fly with self-ratings.
> Some minor steps can be taken, but not all worth the expense and hassle of
> a mandatory system.

I see labels as helpful rather than restrictive. A label provides additional
information to help people find the information that they want. That
information can also be used to help you cut out the information you don't
want. If parents want to use this flag because they think it might help their
kids, great.

Maybe nobody would use the flag, but I don't see how it could hurt. If I had
kids, I would appreciate having the option of sorting out all the stuff that
is "NIFK" by the author.

--Jeff