Re: Hotmail and John Hancock

[Peter_Donahoe@notes.rbs.org]

From: Peter Donahoe@RBS on 04/05/97 11:08 AM

Friends:

  I may have missed something, but I haven't yet seen any VNSA
  members abuse Hotmail or any of the other free email services in
  the way people have abused them elsewhere.  I'm referring in
  particular to a long-standing pattern of abuse by a very few
  people over in VNForum. If problems do arise here, the Admins will probably be
  quick to respond.

  Among the posts on the subject of Hotmail, there was this exchange between
  Frank and Tuan (below).  I disagree entirely with Frank's
  perspective.  I do not what to have any exchanges or discussions
  or contact of any kind with anyone pretending to be someone they
  are not, or someone trying to hide who they are.  And I have still
  less regard for anonymous opinions or postings.  I think that if
  someone won't attach their own "John Hancock" to their ideas or
  opinions, then their ideas or opinions are not worth listening to.

  For members who may not know, John Hancock served as president to
  the Continental Congress at which members debated and finally
  approved the Declaration of Independence (1776).  Hancock was
  first to sign his name to the declaration, and when he did, he
  signed it in letters 5-6 times larger than normal - a great HUGE
  signature.  The other delegates gasped, and demanded to know what
  the hell he thought he was doing.  Hancock explained that no
  matter how bad King George's eyes might be, and no matter which
  other delegates' signatures the king could not read, he wanted to
  be damn sure that the king would be able to read the name "John
  Hancock" and know Hancock was a rebel and a free man.

  Take a look sometime at a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
  You'll have no difficulty picking out Hancock's name.

  Tuan, I like to think THAT is still what one might call a
  "typically American" attitude.

  Occassionally one still hears Americans refer to signing their
  name to a paper as "putting my John Hancock on it".

  Pete Donahoe


       Frank Nguyen:  It's nothing wrong if one selects for
       him/herself a different name.  Does anybody know my name is a
       real or faked one?

       Any opinion should be heard, even an anonymous,

       Tuan Pham: When did the rot set in? Is the attitude above
       typically American or only Viet-American?

       I grew up in a world where sending anonymous messages and
       using faked names is simply unacceptable. Except when there
       are threats to one's safety or livelihood, which doesn't
       apply to the majority of SCV participants.

       The reasoning behind this rule of ethics is that anonymity
       leads to irresponsibility. Just look at the back of any
       public toilet door - or SCV :)