ANST - The list is moderated...

Decker, Terry D. TerryD at Health.State.OK.US
Fri May 22 13:40:29 PDT 1998


Good gentles,

As I understand it, the Ansteorran mailing list was created and is
maintained by a private citizen.  It physically resides on a privately owned
server using privately owned disk space and is connected to the Internet by
privately paid for communications link.  It is not a publication of the SCA
and it is not supported by that organization.  It is a list on which you can
participate only by subscribing.  This says to me that the Ansteorran
mailing list is not a public, but a private forum, which legally can
restrain improper use.

Under law, posting to a mailing list may constitute publication.  The
moderator of a mailing list can be considered a publisher.  This means that
Pug could be sued for the intemperate words of his guests.  Should the
particular court uphpold the view of mailing list as publication, Pug might
face ruinous penalties for no act of his own.  Pug's only defence in such a
case is to demonstrate that he took aggressive steps to prevent the improper
use of the forum.

Pug is our host.  We are his guests.  As a host, Pug has stated the
accusations previously made are an improper use of the list and may be
actionable under law.  He has asked us to refrain from this behavior and
when some of us failed to comply, he took direct action against the behavior
violating his hospitality.  While some may consider it censorship, Pug's
actions were correct and proper within the definition of a moderated,
private forum.

Pug has been a good host and a model of rectitude.  I, for one, dislike
seeing him disparaged as a "censor," when we, his guests, should have been
more temperate, more just and more courteous with our words.

Bear
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