Miles Bader wrote:
Probably a bit higher (not too much), given that radio waves propagate, and anyone in a large area could see them, but you're right it's very low. However it's also a fact of professionalism. Do you tolerate bugs in your software? What about policy violations in your packages? Even if no one sees them, you still avoid them, because you agreed to the rules, and consider yourself bound to them as a matter of course.Benjamin Seidenberg <astronut@dlgeek.net> writes:Err, sorry, I meant § 97.113(a)(4). Also, my previous message applies to amateur operators in the US. Amateurs in other nations are similiary regulated by their equivelent to the FCC, with similar rules which are all based on ITU regulations.So what's the likelihood that this is actually a problem? 0.00001%? 0.00000000001%?
And by what bizarre standard is saying "foo sucks" really profane??? Ok, by the "wackos like ed meese" standard maybe -- but nobody cares about that.
FCC has specific rules about what's obscene, although they're not in part 97. Think George Carlin's "Words you can't say on the radio".
In the extremely unlikely event that it is a problem, why should it be up to list posters to deal with it? If some readers use a service governed by authorities that are prudish to an absurd degree, it seems like the onus is on them to try and deal with the probably technically; at the least it's up to them to demonstrate that it is a _real_ issue before asking people to modify their behavior based on this.
That's a matter for the list managers to decide, and I won't speak on this issue, as I have no opinion. The debian-ham mailing list (of which I am not a part) might however, you could try asking them.
Regardless, I think the rules are based on common courtesy; in that one should curb their language on any publicly distributed medium such as this. Think of the "80 year old grandmother rule" (Would someone's 80 year old grandmother be offended by what you say?) It's just being polite and courteous to others. This is my interpretation of the listmaster's rules, I'm not taking a position on them, although I will say that I think that people sound more reasoned when they make an arguement with ideas rather than profanity or namecalling.
The FCC would actually send a letter of notice, and possibly a fine (which can get quite high, especially if actions are repeated). Anyway, I'm not arguing for or against the rules, just giving some references and explanations to someone who asked them.I assume that in truth, you're not really worried about the FCC breaking down your door, but rather don't like the language you see, and are trying to come up with a less subjective reason to object to it.
I think this is a reasonable arguement, but I think there are reasonable arguements on both sides.Probably most posters would agree that extreme torrents of abuse are annoying and (usually) out of place, but for many speakers mild "profanity" is a normal part of informal language; most people understand that (even if they don't like it), and deal with it.
-Miles
I just want to add something. I don't know why, but at my high school, which has fairly restrictive internet filters, lists.debian.org is blocked. The strage part is that it's under the catagory "Abortion/Abortion Advocacy Groups". This is done by SonicWall, which is a very large provider of filter technologies. Even if it's miscatagorized, one wonders if foul language could cause other filtering groups to block it as obscene. Just food for thought.
73, Benjamin, KI4CXN
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