Re: PGP protection

From: Jordan Benedict Gray (csucdd_at_dcs.warwick.ac.uk)
Date: 11/19/03 

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 03:18:03 +0000

Lots of people wrote:
</stuff which I'm just going to snip>

  (There's too much, I don't refer to any of it specifically, and who's
going to be bothered reading through it anyway?)

  Having read through as many of these posts as I can stomach, I've come
to some conclusions. All statements are made to the best of my
recollection, and considering my extremely good long-term memory, should
be (for the most part) accurate.

  This thread, it seems, was started by a self-confessed troll who
cannot leave this newsgroup alone for any length of time. He stated some
time back that he was only posting to elicit negative responses from the
regulars, and that he was only posting here while he got over a 'head
cold' or somesuch complaint, after which he would cease to be
interested. (He may have made a statement to the effect that he 'had a
life,' though I can't say for certain that he did.)

  It seems that this illness is quite something - apparently, it is
sufficient to keep him out of work for all these months, and his only
release is post interminable obloquy to newsgroups. Or he was lying, and
simply is a run-of-the-mill troll; whichever tickles your fancy. (Though
if it's the former, surely your prolonged inactivity has rendered you
one of the 'pencil-necked nerds' which you so despise?)

  Thus, any points he makes are to be viewed with suspicion, as his
motives are not what one might consider laudable or constructive. The
debate rages, and the question seems to be (unless I have badly
misconstrued it): are PGP sigs legitimate extensions - or additions - to
the conventional four-line signature?

  Social convention in this group (regardless of anything else) seems to
dictate that this is indeed the case. One would expect this to be enough.

  Personally, I don't know anything about the use or utility of such
sigs, and I don't give a toss either. (I've only had access to
newsgroups since last year, for goodness sake!) The only comment I can
make is that such sigs are pretty ugly. However, group convention
supersedes aesthetics. The signature conventions are obvious to anyone
who reads more than a few posts here. From the little I've read, their
inclusion doesn't present any real practical concerns, and even if they
do, group conventions seem to rule over this as well.

  A sensible suggestion: that dissidents stop being so schizmogenically
counter-anal and simply adopt/accept the policy if they wish to join in
with posting in the group. This avoids generating complaints from the
signature Nazis - except from trolls such as rm - and isn't such a big
deal anyway, IMO.

  To this effect, I ask if my own finishing line is problematic. Does it
cause any jarring disharmonies with those who frequent the group, them
being (thusfar) too polite to say anything, or is it an acceptable
termination? If the former is the case, I'm quite willing to type --
<return> Jordan, which takes all of one extra press of a single key and
the substitution of a space for a newline. It will take far more effort
to bemoan the change than to apply it. Witness:

  - Jordan

Relevant Pages

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