Path: sn.no!uninett.no!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.wli.net!205.185.79.5.MISMATCH!zdc!szdc!newsp.zippo.com!drn From: llywrch@cyberpromo.rdrop.com (Geoff Burling) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Re: send the clowns at TidePool a fax Date: 18 Oct 1997 06:58:13 -0700 Organization: Fans of Yvette Stiles Lines: 76 Message-ID: <62af9l$1jq@drn.zippo.com> References: <3446e9f3.8973780@news.supernews.com> <62776r$m6t$1@neko.syix.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-272.newsdawg.com Xref: sn.no alt.religion.scientology:385562 On 17 October 1997, Dave Bird quoted: > > >>|tidepool.com is a small ISP that has, as most of the small ISPs in my rural >>|neck of northern California, been purchased by a group of investors called >>|Internet Ventures, Inc. of Los Angeles. >>|The president of that company is Don(ald) Jenky, >>|the head of investor relations is Tim McGrath >>| at telephone: (800) 701-7020. >> Fax: 209-466-7356 > Took your advice, Dave. Here's what I just faxed those folks: 18 October, 1997 Gentlemen: I have just heard that you cancelled Grady Ward's account for alleged off-topic posting & obsenity, as claimed by one William Gertner, who posts from wgert@loop.com. I am appalled at your action, & feel that you have made a mistake for the following reasons: 1) Grady Ward has been posting to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology for several years now, & is quite aware of what is ``on-topic" & ``off-topic." As a regular reader, I have never felt his posts were off-topic, & no one else - including this Gertner - have ever complained that he has been off-topic in a post to the newsgroup. I feel this complaint is in bad faith, for reasons I will note below. 2) While it is possible that what Grady writes can be considered obscene, it is the nature of alt.* groups to occasionally indulge in a number of scurrilous & vulgar exchanges. Freedom of speech means, unfortunately, freedom to offend. And my understanding of the law of vulgarity in the United States depends on what the community defines as obscene. That is why there are few - if any - Adult Movie Video stores in Salt Lake City, but many in Los Angeles, New York & so forth. Again, I have seen few - if any - posts complaining about vulgarity in Ward's posts. Therefore, it is safe to assume that our community did not find him obscene. The usual recourse in any case is to killfile posters who one finds offensive; that is what I do. 3) The person who complained about Ward's posting has stridently expressed a contrary opinion to his, & by taking his side - without adequate & publicly shared evidence - you have now sided with him & the people he represents. It is not be a prudent thing for an ISP on the eve of a Public Offering to do enter the thicket of controversy like this: all you end up doing, when you take sides, is alienating a large number of potential investors. 4) Further, Gertner represents an organization with whom Ward is currently engaged in legal action. It is to their benefit to demonize Ward, & to do whatever it takes to silence him. There are adequate examples that this organization will fanatically attack, both in words & in person, anyone it perceives as its enemy. By entering this conflict on their side, you not only expose yourself to legal risk should Ward win, you also protray yourselves as willing to cower before bullies & terrorists. 5) As a former employee for a successful ISP, I know full well that the ``off-topic" clause in your TOS is typically used to justify killing the accounts of people who willfully & repeatedly spam newsgroups & other internet accounts. Using it to censor someone based on content now makes you liable for the content of ALL of your other subscribers. The end result is that instead of keeping your equipment running & recruiting new subscribers, you now must spend your time reading every post to usenet that comes from your domain & approve its content. Because it can be argued, from your actions, you tacitly endorse the opinions expressed by your customers. Or accept the fact that every subscriber you add will be lost the moment someone demands you discipline him or her, thereby adding to the churn of your customer base. The best thing you can do is publicly apologize for this mistake to Grady Ward, reopen his account, & stay out of future controversies like this in the future. It may not be too late for you to rescue your reputation in the eyes of your potential customers. Geoffrey Burling [email address & phone number deleted]