<nettime> on moderation and spams

[Luther Blissett <tom9351@iperbole.bologna.it>]

Since the debate on moderation continues, I feel it's my duty to express
solidarity to Ted Byfield, which I already did in a private message
yesterday. It's too easy to charge him with authoritarianism or whatever. 
Anyone who spent just a few weeks in the 1980's mail art network remembers
that there were all kinds of real stalkers who couldn't help by stuffing
other people's POB with junk (crushed cans, used condoms, my pal Vittore
Baroni even received a big rotting fish!). Antiorp reminds me of them. I
think s/he's little more than a spammer. Or is s/he... an "artist"? If so,
much the worse for him or her! My personal opinion is that 'art' is an
obsolete idealistic category which jack-off middle-class smart-asses adopt
as an excuse for anything they happen to throw up. When "art"-oriented
harassment meets nice-ism and political correctness, the result is
time-wasting, nowhere-going nihilism.  Or is antiorp an "info-warrior"?
Right. S/he declared war upon... whom? Me? So why can't I counter-attack?
And even if antiorpisms were worth reading, why post them on Nettime? I'm
sure there are more suitable contexts.  Antiorp fans want us to be
open-minded - antiorp tried to tear our nervous system apart. Two
different beasts, I daresay. Any attempt at describing such annoying
behaviors either as "performances" or as "mind-challenging" dunno-whats
will always provoke my fierce resistance. Even Monty Cantsin's Invisible
College list (whose subscribers are devoted to 'mad science' and coded
language games) unsubscribed a guy named Barnoz who used to post hundreds
of lines of [>>quote(>quote)] garbage. I think that "moderator" is a bad
word though.  Anyway, this is the abovementioned message: 


Hi there.

As a nettime subscriber I reckon you - and any other moderator who
unsubscribed or is going to unsubscribe antiorp from their list(s) - did
the right thing. In off-line reality your decision would be deemed as
absolutely normal: three mornings in a row some guy I don't know comes
over and puts smelly turd into my mail box. First time I wonder 'what the
hell kind of a sick weirdo...?', on the second day I get mad. OK, that
might be a "clever art trick", "performance art" and whatnot, but I don't
give a damn: third day I wait for him, give him a good kicking and shove
the turd down his throat. This is not repression of free speech, is it?
Bye,

Belletati

 
The Luther Blissett Mythopoetic On-line Guide:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/6812
last updated: 6 September 1998
New documents and pics on the ramps!

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