Re: Asimov Site

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Hello Liam,

Nice post. Respectful, reasonable, intelligent. I suppose you will soon be flamed big time. Sad, isn't it?

Roy

Liam Busey wrote:

> Lewin A.R.W. Edwards wrote:
> >
> >>>      What will happen is this ...  One or more new Asimov sites will >>> be established on ISPs that care more about staying in business than >>> pleasing whining emailers. Complaints
> >>
> >> Sigh.
> >
> > Sigh indeed. Both of you are ignoring the fact that even if US-hosted
> > archives can be harassed out of existence, the busybodies have no > chance of achieving the same end in (say) Russia or Eastern Europe. > The US Government is not going to launch a first strike against Russia > for hosting "illegal" abandonware sites. No matter how much you people > bitch, the US Government wouldn't even cut backbone connections.
>
> True. By the same token I doubt the US would lift a finger to protect
> said sites. That however is beside the point.
>
> The 'busybodies' know it's impossible to shut down all the sites. Even
> if they could it would be pointless because people who want to pirate
> will always find a way. Instead, they are trying to spread awareness
> that such sites are illegal and that despite the fact that there's a
> snowball's chance in hell of getting prosecuted, it's valuable to
> respect the copyrights of older software.
>
>
> > The vicious politics, stickybeaking and interference in the Apple II
> > "community" are unbelievable (and without comparison in the 8-bit > nostalgia world);
>
> One may take it as a sign of health. People don't become so empassioned
> over something that's dead (like most other 8bit platforms).
>
> > you remind me of neighbors who are constantly spying over each
> > other's fences looking for something to complain about.
>
> Noone's spying. Comp.sys.apple2 is a public forum. If you post
> flame-bait don't be surprised if get bit.
>
> > The last time I was exposed to this was in early 1995, but I see that > absolutely nothing has changed in the last five years.
>
> It's normally not this bad. We had about a year of peace but that got
> too boring so we had a huge flamewar last month. This thread is just
> some leftover fallout. Please stick around a bit.
>
> > I wonder if this is because the Apple II was for a long time the
> > "educator's computer". Perhaps those people who are currently looking > for new ways to harass others should step back for a moment and ...
> > WHOA Toto - we aren't in the playground any more! You will not become > teacher's pet for telling on the naughty boy.
>
> Damn! You got me. Oops potty mouth. ;)
>
> > Wake up and realize how irredeemably pathetic you are.
>
> You're hurting my feelings. Stop or I'm telling. ;)
>
> > I realize that most of you are just attention-seekers deriving some
> > kind of satisfaction from the attention of all the people telling you > how futile your existence is, but just think how much more attention
> > you could get if you (say) RAN one of those archive sites.
>
> While I can only speak for myself, I doubt anyone in the Apple 2
> community sticks around to get attention. Posting to .advocacy groups
> would be much more effective. The people you appear to oppose are just
> defending copyright. The only reason there's so much noise here is
> because a lot of people won't aknowledge it's validity and get pissed
> whenever someone tells them that they're violating it.
>
> > When I think of the Apple II community, I think of numerous crotchety > old people testily waving their Zimmer frames at people walking past
> > their front lawn. "Listen sonny, in my day you had to pay rent to walk > across that piece of footpath. I remember in 1893, I used to charge
> > two shillings a head for cattle driven across there."
>
> Unfortunate.
>
> > The culprits in this also seem to be (in the main) people with mostly > empirical knowledge and little or no real "I hacked that system" > association with the II line.
>
> If your talking about the group that's commonly lumped in with vogons,
> many of them are or have been Apple 2 developers. However I fail to see
> how a user's (I assume that's what you meant by empirical knowledge)
> opinion has any less value than a programmer's.
>
> > I'm almost ashamed to have Apple II equipment in my vintage
> > collection, considering the company it puts me in. (And obviously I am > not talking about all Apple II users there). The people I'm talking
> > about know who they are, and the sooner you people move on to less
> > harmful occupations, the better the world will be.
>
> Why be shamed? Regardless of what its users do the Apple II is
> blameless. Your quarrel is with people of an opposing view point. Why
> project negative feelings towards the hardware just because people you
> dislike enjoy the same thing?
>
> Lewin, you've been gone 5 years. Comp.sys.apple2 is a much more pleasant
> place. Please don't leave again until you've seen what we're normally
> like.
>
> Liam Busey