From: Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca>
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 23:51:19 -0800 (PST)
To: SpyKing <spyking@thecodex.com>
Subject: Re: Moderated list is missing headers
In-Reply-To: <199701280528.AAA03139@para.mne.net>
Message-ID: <32EDCC24.1F51@sk.sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


SpyKing wrote:
> I mean no disrespect by this but this list is funny.

  The CypherPunks list is, and always has been, a 'hoot'. I have
followed
it since its inception, in various guises. It is the only list I still
keep tabs on when I'm hiding under a rock to escape persecution, 
prosecution, and/or prostitution.
  I once read over a year's worth of postings in one stetch, after
having
surfaced following an unfortunate incident behind the Iron Curtain. That 
was when I fully realized that the course of the universe could be
reliably
predicted by following the CypherPunks list. (Picking the winner in the
Kentucky Derby being one notable exception.)

> I've never seen so much
> bickering about moderation. I know you were a subscriber to the surveillance
> list that's why I mention this. When I moderate I ONLY cut out the spam...
> we haven't even had one flame yet... 

  You have one of the best moderated lists that I have seen. Some of the
posts
are a definite 'stretch' as far as being on-topic is concerned, but we
live
in a world where people make different kinds of connections inside their
brains, and I have always believed that keeping too tight a rein on the
human animal will lead to crushing the spirit within.
  Several years ago, when the CypherPunks were on the cover of 'Wired',
I inserted a short post suggesting that their philosophies regarding
anarchism, privacy and free speech would be put to the test when 
recognition, money and power entered the cypher-picture.
  I only became active on the list, under my present persona, about a 
month before 'moderation/censorship', as a result of receiving word
that changes were in the wind that would make my prediction prophetic.
  It has been said that one can reliably predict the future course of
civilization by following the progress of men of genius and the insane.
To this, I would add the CypherPunks list, which seems to fully 
encompass both arenas.

> I suppose if we had someone like the
> guy who flames Tim May all the time it would be necessary...

  The Tim May flames were a simple matter of office politics. He could 
not be counted on to 'go quietly into the night' in regard for the
plans for the New List Order.
  Anyone who chooses to spend the least amount of time analyzing the
UCE/Spam content of the CypherPunks list can easily ascertain that
there was a concerted blitzkrieg of postings aimed at creating an 
atmosphere wherein the BrownShirts could move in to address the 
'problems' being created for the list.
  It was a classic 'takeover' of the list by those involved. It used 
the "Tim May" and "Make $$Money$$ Fast" UCE/Spams to implement a
moderation/censorship system which could be used to bring the jackboot
down on those whose postings do not fit in with the future
socio/politico
directions envisioned by those directing the takeover of the list.

  The forced unsubscribing of Dr. Dimitri was merely an opening salvo,
to test the waters. He was the Saddam Hussein of Cypher Storm.
  Tim May presented a different problem. As a veteran, respected member
of the CypherPunks list (respected, for the most part, even by those
who violently disagreed with him), he needed to be eliminated through
a combination of public humiliation and withdrawal of support by the
elitist members of the list.

  The current moderation/censorship, and the process by which it was
instituted, is a disgrace to the memory of a list which was, at one 
time a bastion of free speech.
  The CypherPunks list of the past is now dead. It has already been
decided that, in the future, it will be controlled and directed, 
through censorship, to further its prostitution to the new financial
frontiers of cryptology.

> P.S. Those Tim May flames are hilarious although I probably wouldn't think
> so if I were him...

  Hang on to them, they are now 'collectors items', probably worth a lot
of
money. If Tim May had a better sense of humor, he might have parlayed
the
posts into a guest spot on 'Letterman'.

Toto