[Beowulf] Admin action request

[Tomasz Rola]

On Fri, 22 Nov 2013, Peter St. John wrote:

> My take on this is two-fold:
> 
> When I copy an interesting link to friends or colleagues, I include a
> sentence or a paragraph explaining why I think they want to follow the
> link. Copying the entire article (as opposed to a pithy quote) is just
> spam, and a bare link is a distraction, a bare link looks like a virus. So
> I consider the mentioned posts as what we used to call "unmannerly".

I am OK with this. Like I wrote, there should be some kind of agreement. I 
don't mind full stuff but if it distracts other members, I will gladly 
have a link and a meaningful quote.

I forgot to mention that there are sources which don't mind replication. 
Yes, really.

Also, in case of some obscure web corners, their author(s) would perhaps 
be very happy to have a mention in "the circles", including replication 
(think, promo materials). Because - speaking for myself again - after 
reading some, I went to the source for some more. Many times. Many clicks. 
With so many sources around, the problem is getting attention of the right 
people who will get in more people, rather than forbiding, executing and 
hanging dead bodies on the walls (but with only one or two sources total, 
the attitude would have been waaay different).

Another thing I find valuable about replication - it allows me to quickly 
discern sites with actually something to say from those packed with 
graffiti. Since I use text based mail only - if it looks good in mua (or 
lynx), it may be worthy to browse, too.

So, I can point to some positives of replication. However, I will not 
press others to like it, because I understand there may be reasons to not 
do it.

[...]
> It's all unpleasant, we don't want rules, we don't want spam, and we don't
> even want to discuss these issues because we are interested in beowulfry
> not politics.

Definitely. To me, the only good side of internet is ability to schmooze 
with/about technical/scientific folk/stuff - or rather, to listen how 
others schmooze, but this is great too. And I really prefer the comfort of 
the (technically) right solution (as opposed to solution dictated by 
someone's monetary interests). Unfortunately, law and politics make 
themselves impossible to hide, getting more and more inside the area - and 
with those hard boots of theirs.

Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **