[MUD-Dev] Re: ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev

[J C Lawrence]

On Sun, 09 Aug 1998 14:22:27 -0400 (EDT) 
s001gmu <s001gmu at nova.wright.edu> wrote:

> I had to include this whole message, because he took the words right
> out of my mouth.  I see no reason that the whole mess can't be
> automated.  It's a constant addition to a message with a known
> format.  Computers were designed from the get-go to handle things
> like that. 

My reasons against this are simple:

  I don't want to have to design, write, test, maintain, and monitor
for bugs/breakage such a tool.  I already have enough make-work on my
plate to not want to add more.  I realise that the total work required
is not large, but I already have far more than enough such straws on
this camel's back. 

> I see no reason to ban people from the list because they happen to
> have an email provider that sticks a couple lines on the end of
> their message.

I don't, or wouldn't as it has yet to actually arise, ban the user, I
merely exclude users of certain servides.  There is a difference as
they retain thye choice of using another service which I freely
accept.

Another point to observe is the norming force this list and its
membership can enforce.  Back when John Bertoglio posted in a format
at odds with the list rules (I don't recall the specifics).  I, and a
few others sent him polite notes suggesting that a different format
would be more acceptable.  John changed his posting format poste
haste, and later observed to the list that the sheer and unstated
possibility of censure or exclusion from the list (he had been a
member for merely a few days) was a powerful and compelling motivating
force that sent him scrambling to comply (I hope I'm not overstating
here).

Moving closer to present time, a recent subscriber originally
subscribed with a Yahoo email account (which is what bought this area
back to my attention).  When he noticed my concerns on advertising on
the list he immediately resubscribed with a non-advertising account.
He admits that the yahoo account is preferable to him for MUD-Dev, but
that the value of the list itself far outweighs the cost of using
other mail services he already has available.

This is of course a touchy point.  If I use the list as a bully I run
the risk of alienating and causing reactions-against from that
fraction that uses advertising based services of the very members I
want to attract.  The question of whether that percentage is
significant is moot.

OTOH the list itself seems to have evolved to the point that members
are willing to sustain some level of barrier to entry as an acceptable
cost of membership (cf Chris Gray's manual attribution of every post).
I'm leary of relying on this mechanic as if I do it will quickly
become, or be viewed as a conformist club -- which is far from my
intent.

<shrug>

Much as I dislike the idea it appears I'm going to have to run this
one on a case by case basis.

> Advertising is a part of the 'net as much as all the servers that
> make the 'net a reality.  Deal with it.

Banning, proscibing against, and filtering are all methods of "dealing
with it", as is merely accepting it without comment.  

Note: There's a reason I run the JunkBuster proxy.  I know the
advertising is out there, I just don't see the banner ads et al any
more.  I, as you say, "deal with it", by having it (nearly) never
appear in my browser.

> Besides, I don't see how a mail service provided advert is any
> different from various ppl's sigs that advertise their particular
> web page/mud/ whatever.  Ban one, ya gotta ban 'em all.

A signature is assumed to be a deliberate communication of the poster.
A service-affixed advert has no direct content causal connection with
the poster as to its content.  That said, I do chastise posters for
excessively long signatures (well, I would if it had happened yet),
and would again if their signatures started to read like classified
ads.  Many signatures here reference their poster's commercial
affiliations.  Technically that is advertising.  Factually it also
provides context for the message content.  Value judgement.

> Maybe I shouldn't have been listening to Rage Against The Machine as
> I was writing this message... ;)

As much as I may try to reduce aspects of running this list (ie human
interaction) to mechanical processes, human perverseness will conspire
to thwart my attempts.  That's just a fact of the game.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...