[tor-talk] Why corrupt government officials are strongly opposed to this Tor project (a Gestapo government run amok!)

[Jonathan Wilkes]

On 03/05/2015 11:05 AM, Goltz, Jim (NIH/CIT) [E] wrote:
>> So you use your perceived authority of an upset citizen to mask your
>> incapacity to use filters?
> Not all of us read this list on a MUA that has easy-to-use filters.  We generally subscribe to lists that contain useful information, have a high signal-to-noise ratio, and are subscribed to by users who care more about the intended list subject than about getting into yet another useless flame war.
>
> If a list stops fulfilling these criteria, people like us unsubscribe, leaving the list to its inevitable decline, destined to join the ever-lengthening roll of moribund, flame-filled lists that no longer exist or have ceased to serve any useful function on the net.

That would certainly be unfortunate, but it's a publicly known and 
measurable risk on a public, unmoderated list.  However, if the list 
were to become moderated (especially according to your vague criteria) 
then the community would lose the set of evidence they need most (i.e., 
the moderated content) to argue in the other direction.  In practice, 
admins who feel the need to moderate are _extremely_ averse to 
meta-discussions about the guidelines, which makes things even worse.

But even with well-considered, clear moderation guidelines, the very act 
of removing content of a user on the Tor talk list in the current 
wide-net surveillance climate... well, I suppose it could decrease the 
number of button presses in your MUA.  But in the larger scheme I have 
no doubt the conspiracy theories you find unpleasant would not only 
proliferate widely but also focus their sights on Tor's tyrannical and 
hypocritical campaign of online censorship.  If it's a choice between 
that and you fulfilling a fantasy of Valhalla burning to the ground at 
your immolation, then the good news is that you only have to press one 
more button.

-Jonathan

>
> This is by far not the only list, group, or blog out there.  Even if it is the only one that contains "Tor talk", if it ceases to have any content related to its intended purpose, I have no reason to stay subscribed.  If I want unsubstantiated accusations and wild theories, I'll read YouTube comments or watch Fox News.
>
> --
> Jim Goltz <jgoltz at mail.nih.gov>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lara [mailto:lara.tor at emails.veryspeedy.net]
> Sent: Thursday, 05 March, 2015 10:14
> To: tor-talk at lists.torproject.org
> Subject: Re: [tor-talk] Why corrupt government officials are strongly opposed to this Tor project (a Gestapo government run amok!)
>
> mick:
>> Now can we all stop rising to troll bait?
> So you use your perceived authority of an upset citizen to mask your
> incapacity to use filters?
>