[ wacky stuff snipped ]
> An Admin also in other settings like lets say a network admin
> should be the one to contact if lets say the users are out of control
> AOL ;)- and someone needs to contact them to try and get them
> undercontrol.
ATTENTION OUT OF CONTROL USERS --
THIS IS YOUR BENEVOLENT WEBMASTER COMMANDING YOU TO IMMEDIATELY CEASE
AND DESIST FROM LINKING TO DOCUMENTS OUT OF OUR CONTROL. AFTER I FINISH
THIS GLORIOUS DENUNCIATION OF YOUR RIGHTS TO EXPRESS YOURSELF ONLINE,
YOU WILL BE DEMOTED TO A MOST VILE AND REPREHENSIBLE NON-COMPUTER USING
JOB SHOULD YOU, IN ANY WAY, CONTINUE TO BE OUT OF CONTROL.
ONCE AGAIN, YOU WEB AUTHORING HELLIONS, CEASE AND DESIST FROM LINKING TO
ANY DOCUMENT THAT MAY CHANGE, EVER. EVERY BAD LINK FROM YOUR OUT OF
CONTROL DOCUMENTS REFLECTS POORLY ON YOUR BENEVOLENT ADMINISTRATOR, WHO
IS JUST TRYING TO BE HELPFUL AND KEEP YOU UNDER CONTROL.
Well, I once received an e-mail commanding me to bring sack lunches to
work so that Management would be able to contact me should "there be a
need" during my lunch hour. Thankfully, I don't work for that Company
anymore.
Does information truly want to be free? It used to be so easy to say
"We can't afford enough books or supplies for you to be able to learn."
but now, given the increase in information and commodities exchanges in
real time over the net, such institutional intellectual stagnation is
harder to justify. Of course, you've still got your CyberSurf,
SafeSurf, CompanyTimeSurf, and NetNanny software to cripple your
browsers and control what your users read, see, or experience online.
This is what happens when the idea of "out of control" users becomes
systemically meshed with a less-than-tacit compromising of the
Individual's right to write, read, say, hear, browse, link to, or
otherwise experience the net.
It is users ability to explore and learn online, and to contribute to
the online metasphere just as anyone else can, which is why the world
wide web shows such great potential to such great numbers of people.
Webmasters should have the tools to efficiently remove out-of-date
materials from their web space, but that doesn't mean keeping "control"
of users...that's keeping "control" of one's web space, which lends
itself well towards accountability and accuracy.
Well, maybe Kevin could write a CensorialBot, the Bot That Knows Whats
Good For You(tm) and market it to Beijing, Singapore, and the U.S.
Congress/NSA/CIA. If not Kevin, who?
-- Rob Turk <mailto:rturk@austin.ibm.com> Unofficially Speaking. Have you noticed that all you need to grow healthy, vigorous grass is a crack in your sidewalk?