From: John Deters <jad@dsddhc.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 08:41:08 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Dr. Vulis is a test, right? [was RE: Desubscribe]
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960830224855.00355560@labg30>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I can't believe it any more.

On Fri, 30 Aug 96 02:47:21 EDT, Dr. (of what, pray tell?) Vulis blathers first:

>> > If you don't have the brains to forge the From:, then you have no
>> > business being subscribed to any mailing list.

and then again:

>Whoever uses the term "spam" in derogatory manner, opposes free
>speech and deserves to be caned.

First, accusing someone of stupidity for not having learned how to telnet to
an SMTP server is a bit harsh, especially since the guy might be stuck
behind a firewall that mungs his addresses AFTER his messages goes out --
not that Dr. V bothered to find out before the accusation.

Second, suggesting anyone be caned for their political beliefs (and
resultant speech) is quite obviously NOT the action taken by someone who
defends free speech.  Again, Dr. V. put those beliefs in his words through
his flawed logic.

It's like watching a KKKlucker yelling, "you have no right to say that we
don't support free speech," and not getting it.

And for what -- the thoughtcrime of calling Dr. V a spammer?  Hmm.  About
the closest I can come to finding a "crime" here is trademark infringement.
I'm sure Hormel is following this closely.

All of this is merely annoying.  But slamming Tim May because of his
heritage?  "criminal Arm*nian grandparents"?  Now it's a crime not only to
call Dr. V a spammer, but to have ancestors born someplace his ancestors
taught him to not approve of.  (Can you say "racism", kids?  Sure.  I knew
you could.)

When I first started reading this list, it was about the time Jim Bell was
espousing the A.P. theories, and I thought him a fool for it.  I put his
name in my filter, sending his posts to the trash.  More and more, I found
myself heading to the trash bin to follow a thread that Jim was contributing
to.  Valuable contributions, mind you, not just more of his A.P. stuff.  Of
course, I ended up removing him from my filter.  (For missing that month of
your posts, Jim, I owe you an apology.)

At that time, I realized a few things:  Filters certainly aren't the answer;
and everybody can come up with valuable contributions.

Anyway, my current status is to have the filters set to remove posts with
the words [NOISE] or [OFF-TOPIC] somewhere in the headers.  It helps weed
out stuff that really isn't why I'm here reading this list.

Given that I feel that even Dr. Vulis might possibly contribute something of
value to this list at some unspecified time in the future, I have come to
the conclusion that the only solution is to ask him to change his e-mail
name field to:

  dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM [NOISE] )

until such time as he can actually come up with something useful to say to
the rest of us.  Maybe he could even throw in an [-L18] tag, if he's going
to continue to [spit | fuck | fart] every posting that leaps through his screen.

[ Note to everyone else:  that's SARCASM there, hope you got it! ]

So, my original question is:  is there really a Dr. Dmitri Vulis (KOTM)
somewhere?  Or is he just some made-up straw man, created by Tim May, John
Gilmore and Eric Hughes for their personal amusement, and to add a spot of
controversy so we can feel like we're not preaching to the choir with every
pro-cypher posting?  I often thought that was the case with David Sternlight
as well.  Or is Dr. Vulis really best-buddies with Tim May, and his way of
showing affection is to "fart in his general direction" with every post?

If he exists, I pity the unsuspecting students who wander into his class who
might not have the genetic makeup he approves of.  And now I *completely*
understand tenure.

John (soon-to-be-spit-upon,no-doubt) Deters.
--
J. Deters  "Captain's log, stardate 25970-point-5.  I am nailed to the hull."
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