[pct-l] Help the Troll!!!

[Bill Batchelor]

Wow. Now THAT piece of writing I will keep for later use - and take credit
of course!  Well done Gary. 

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Gary Wright
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 3:04 PM
To: PCT-L
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Help the Troll!!!


On Apr 13, 2007, at 2:25 PM, dsaufley at sprynet.com wrote:
> Jon just has very different views.  We see a lot of that in the hiking 
> community.  We live in a democracy, and a society that values free 
> speech.

While I wholeheartedly agree with L-Rod's plea for good manners, IMHO this
is not a free speech issue.

If abstract discussion of individual rights isn't your cup of tea, feel free
to delete this message and and/or ignore me, which is your right of course!

Free speech, as it pertains to individual rights and First Amendment rights
(in the US), is about the government restricting the speech of citizens and
not about citizens reacting to the speech of other citizens.

Ridicule, mockery, contempt, taunting, and so on are all well within the
bounds of free speech.  Of course diplomacy, praise, agreement, and
endorsement are also within the bounds of free speech.  Sometimes a negative
response to speech is appropriate and sometimes a positive response is
appropriate but in either case it isn't a free speech issue when it involves
the interaction of private citizens.

I mention this because "free speech" comes up often on mailing lists as a
rational for preventing the group (or the administrator) from imposing any
sort of code of conduct on the participants.  But mailing lists are almost
always voluntary interactions of private citizens and as such First
Amendment analysis is simply not applicable and ground rules  are entirely
reasonable.  The particular ground rules are something for the administrator
or group to devise and enforce on their own either explicitly or implicitly.


Gary Wright (Radar)


_______________________________________________
pct-l mailing list
pct-l at backcountry.net
unsubscribe or change options:
http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l