From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 09:37:38 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: [NOISE][CONTEST][FACTS] don't help much, do they?
Message-ID: <ad35484a000210046d7a@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, as the saying goes.

I notice a recent surge in posts that have one or more of the bracketed
labels above, presumably in an effort to make the filtering job easier for
others.

However, this rarely works. For one thing, many of the most noisome posts,
in my estimation, lack the [NOISE] label. And many of the posts labelled
[NOISE] are actually pretty interesting, to me. Some people go overboard in
labelling their own stuff as [NOISE], out of some kind of false modesty.

And needless to say, the labels usually propagate into later followups.
(And, shockingly, some people even prepend the followups they make with the
[NOISE] label, thus screwing up threading.

I saw this fad for labelling over on the Extropians list. It failed then,
and will fail now.

For one thing, the labels take up valuable "namespace." It is far better
that the 30 to 50 characters of namespace be taken up with good,
descriptive thread titles.

Use labels if you must, but give some thought to how they just become more
roadside clutter, conveying no meaning.

--Tim


Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."