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Permission granted by author for anyone to distribute this
writing free of charge (including translation into any
language)...under condition that no profit is made therefrom,
and that it remain intact and complete, including title and 
credit to the original author.

Ezekiel J. Krahlin
http://www.gay-bible.org
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HOMOPHOBES IN CYBERSPACE (part 2)

© 2007 by Ezekiel J. Krahlin
(Jehovah's Queer Witness)





Newsgroups: alt.religion.angels
Subject: Re: Newsgroups
From: Chief Thracian (Zeke Krahlin)
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:39:21 GMT

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:48:03 -0700, Chiron wrote:

| The expectation was that the Internet community would self-
| police, shunning those who were extreme so that they had little if any
| audience.  It actually worked, for a while.

Well, it hasn't succeeded, has it? A HUGE number of groups have been
targeted for hateful spam, most ESPECIALLY the gay-relevant ones...but
not exclusively. Thus virtually destroying the ENTIRE newsgroup's
original (and friendly) purpose: to discuss the topic at hand, in an
enjoyable and respectful manner. This has caused a large number of decent
and interesting netizens to DROP OUT entirely, from ANY newsgroup
participation.

| Even so, there is very little chance of getting someone banned by
| their ISP or any newsgroup for anything short of actual criminal
| activity,

Threatening people w/violence, and impersonating them in ways to defame
their character ARE criminal actions. Usenet is a public arena, not
private...and thus is under the same laws that ALL public venues are,
matters not whether online or offline.

There are PLENTY of cases where people lost their access to the
Internet, just for that sort of criminal activity.

| and then it's still quite difficult.

Wrong. Not any more. The problem is that ISP and Usenet services are
already over-stretched with running these services, thus do not have the
TIME to track down the worst offenders. Just like the police, who are
overburdened with budget deficits: a lot of serious crimes are
overlooked, or take a lot more time to resolve.

| A competent cracker
| can easily spoof his identity, use remote machines to send his
| messages, and hide his identity.

You said "competent"...those are quite few and far between. And doesn't
describe ANY of the dickwads here, who are INCOMPETENT buffoons in MANY
ways, not just as netizens.

| There are services that permit such
| activities for those of us who aren't so competent at stealth.  You
| can use anonymizer services, for example. 

Bad example. For one: do you really BELIEVE you are THAT anonymous? Ha,
you're a fool, then!

| Yes, you can eventually track these people down and get them shut down
| or banned, if there is an incentive to do that.  However, without the
| use of subpoenas and other legal means, it's nearly impossible.

Wrong. A news server can EASILY shut someone down for
racist/homophobic/violent remarks. They only lack the resources, these days. 
But times are changing, and with it, more sophisticated tools and methods 
are now in use, to more EASILY track down serious offenders, and more 
CHEAPLY.

And if a news server is lax in this matter, the ISP through whom the
netizen is posting, can override the news server and shut down their
customer.

| Not worth it, to try to settle the squabbling of a bunch
| of immature children (of whatever age) arguing over who's a big
| booger.

This is NOT what is going on. To compare outright homophobia and threats
of violence with such trivial examples is manipulative, and deceptive.
(One manifestation of homophobia is to regard anti-gay attacks AS trivial, 
even though these same bigots would NOT regard anti-black attacks--for 
example--in a similar, irreverent light.) These are serious offenses which 
are NO LESS serious, just because they occur in cyberspace. It is STILL 
a public arena. 

| Just get over it.  People will be mean, bigoted, angry, foolish,

Go back in a time machine, and tell that to blacks at the Watts Riot.
Tell that to Native Amerikans at Little Big Horn. Tell that to gays at
the Stonewall Riots.

| Writing these scary petitions or complaint letters only makes you look
| even dumber than you've managed to look before - and that was pretty
| dumb, in my opinion.

Well, by misleading these jerkwads via your INTENTIONAL disinformation,
I'd say you're really on MY side. Because you lower their guard by
making them think they can continue to get away with their excessive
bigotry. Thus making it so much EASIER to track them down, and press
charges.

What is so great about Usenet, is that NO message is ever truly erased.
Therefore, even if one can't press charges on the offenders right away,
there will come a time when the WORST offenders can be tracked down
RETROACTIVELY (no matter how far in the past), and brought before a
court. (Can you say: "Nuremburg Trials"?)

| And trying to counter this by gay-bashing is idiotic. 

I doubt you'd make such a bald claim, were BLACKS being vilified in the
same way.

And that is why none of my attackers have the GUTS to express their
RACISM, as excessively as they do their HOMOPHOBIA. They know that
they'll either have run-ins with the law, or, more likely, run-ins with
a black brother or two!

|  But why become an idiot just to try to annoy him?  

They didn't BECOME idiots by attacking me...they've BEEN idiots since
the day they popped out of a skanky vagina in some dumpster in a back
alley.

| Especially since I really don't believe you're so anti-gay as you 
| keep claiming.  

What they REALLY believe is irrelevant. What they DO and SAY is the
important thing, here. Try telling a judge: "I'm not REALLY anti-gay, I
just say those things to have fun." See where THAT will get you. (EXTRA
time in prison, no doubt.)

| Some day before I die, I want to talk about angels. 

Well, in so doing you will be barraged by psychobabble dipwads who don't
WANT you to talk about angels. Even if you're NOT gay. Just give it a
try!

Nonetheless, a big THANKS for putting these creeps off their guard, by
your erroneous explanations. I will shortly come up with a TRUTHFUL and
ACCURATE document on the legal ins and outs of Usenet participation.
Suffice it to say that MOST Usenet terms of service DO put the kibosh on
defamatory statements, and threats. Here's but two of MANY examples:

EXAMPLE 1:

From usenet-access.com:

You agree to not use the Service to: upload, post, email or otherwise
transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive,
harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of
another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise
objectionable; harm minors in any way; impersonate any person or entity,
including, but not limited to, a Usenet-Access.com official, forum
leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your
affiliation with a person or entity; forge headers or otherwise
manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content
transmitted through the Service...disrupt the normal flow of
dialog...intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable
local, state, national or international law..."stalk" or otherwise
harass another


EXAMPLE 2:

From Giganews' Acceptable Use Policy:

# Off-Topic Posting

Nearly every newsgroup has a stated topic or acceptable range of topics
for posting or discussion. Blatant disregard of the intended subject
matter in a newsgroup will be treated as abusive posting. Posting off
topic material in large volume or with apparent malicious intent will
lead to immediate account termination.

# Trolling

Trolling is the practice of maliciously trying to incite others that use
a newsgroup, to deviate from the stated topic of the group. In other
words, trolling is an attempt to anger others to the point of drawing
them into an argument or an off topic debate. Giganews does not tolerate
trolling and will terminate service of those who abuse the service in
this manner.

# Altered Headers

Falsifying header lines to obscure the originating server, to attribute
a post to someone else, to falsely indicate moderator approval, or to
make an original post look like a followup are serious abuses of our
service and will result in immediate account termination.