Politics on this mailing list

[Brett Dikeman]

At 9:03 AM -0500 3/18/04, FFGREG32 at aol.com wrote:
>With all due respect to everyone's political opinion, I find it offensive to
>read the tag line on emails to this AUDI list promoting gay marriage.
>  Please remove this, and find the appropriate format for expressing 
>political ideas.
>Let's keep this about our cars, Thanks

List policy is that signatures should be short, and not contain 
commercial advertisements.  Posts must contain Audi-related 
content(or at the very least, automotive content).  Mr. Mullen's 
posts are predominantly Audi-related; in one message I looked at, out 
of 18 lines only 3 were said "offensive" content.  Mr. Mullen follows 
the RFCs to the letter with the "-- " delimiter for his signature. 
His signature in total is on the long side, but I'm sure he can use 
some tabs in place of carriage returns and tidy that up a little, 
bringing it within the generally accepted 4-line maximum that's been 
the defacto standard on the internet for quite some time.

I've been expressing political opinions in my signature for years, as 
have Bob Meyers and numerous other individuals.  A few folks use 
random-signature programs(Mark Chang's sigs are usually horrible puns 
and twisted phrases, I love 'em).  I have yet to receive a single 
complaint, personally.  Sigs are partly like the internet's version 
of a bumper sticker- a traditional place to air our views, challenge 
those around us to think, or solicit a laugh.  You'll pardon me if I 
express some skepticism as to your motives about limiting "political 
ideas" on the list.

Freedom comes with a price.  That price is that someone will use 
their freedom in a way we don't like; to say something we disagree 
with, or feel uncomfortable with.  Further, the only condition under 
which we can revoke said freedom is when it interferes with the 
freedom of others; my right to swing my fist ends at your nose. 
Equality comes with a price as well; it is universal and applies to 
everyone, even those we don't like.

Let's move on, please.

Brett
-- 
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/