From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 09:24:46 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Censorship on cypherpunks?, from The Netly News
In-Reply-To: <328AA7B2.22EC@gte.net>
Message-ID: <31wHXD27w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net> writes:
>
> >        Vulis portrays himself as a victim, but as I posted to the list
> >    last week, I disagree. Anyone who's spent any time on the
> >    100-plus-messages-a-day list can read for themselves the kind of nasty
> >    daily messages that came from Vulis's keyboard. The list is on
> >    Gilmore's machine and he can do what he wants with it; he can moderate
> >    the postings, he can censor material, he can shut the whole thing down.

Declan is putting his journalistic credibility on the line here...
What's he disagreeing with? John exercised his right to censor me, so I'm
a victim and this list as a whole is a victim. John can shut the whole thing
down and it will again be a victim. John's credibility was also a victim.

> So you disagree.  Well, the last sentence above says it all - this "list"
> that you and 1900+ other people spend so much time on is "just property"
> (like a slave), it's censorable (meaning freedom of speech is *specifically
> excluded*), and it's terminable without notice (meaning that it's really
> just one person's private fantasy, and we'll all bozos on the bus, as it were

Welcome to Cypherpunks! It's remarkable that Declan is hosting the next
DCpunks gathering.

> You and several other "personal friends/insiders" to John Gilmore must be
> laughing your butts off at the erstwhile schmoes like myself, who labor to
> reason with persons like yourself and "gods" like John Gilmore, who, after
> all, are obviously superior to us schmoes, since we sit and beg for our
> portions of email emanating from John "God" Gilmore's Holy Computer.

And heaven forbid you express an opinion that one of John "God" Gilmore's
ass-licking friends doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, and support
it with evidence. Declan spent about an hour picking my brain as to why Timmy
May doesn't know shit about cryptography, is a flamer and a racist and an
asshole. He chose not to print it, because he had nothing to rebut it with.

> Why do you bother telling us that:
>
>   "He can moderate the postings"
>   "He can censor material"
>   "He can shut the whole thing down"
>
> Why?  Is this your way (or "God"'s way) of waving your dicks in our faces?

Yes. John Gilmore suffers from the realization of his own inadequacy.

> Well, I'll tell you what.  You can run your list (or kiss someone's butt
> who does), you can shut the thing down, and you can take a long walk off
> a short pier for all I or most anyone gives a damn, but let's call a spade
> a spade.  You're a suck-up, and Gilmore is a swaggering, overbearing, tin-
> plated dictator with delusions of Godhood.  Satisfied?

You forgot "limp-wristed, EFFeminate, bearded, 50-ish blonde".

Thanks for the comments, Dale.

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps