WARNING: Flames follow Re: [free-sklyarov] Newsweek Article (8/20 Issue)

[Jon O .]

Don't read this if you don't need any flames today. I too was having
a good day...

<MASSIVE FLAME>

It's bad manners to send private emails to the list. I did by mistake, I 
hope you did too..Actually, I don't really care...

You know what? You're totally right. I'm not going to waste my time making
these websites anymore. I'm not going to imagine we are having any impact
on the HUGE corporations. I'm not going to rally myself and the troops. I'm not
going to think one person can make a change. I'm not going to think
Hilter took over and killed many people even though it had to start
with someone. I'm not going to think Linus actually created a new
tool that many, many people use now.

No, even though you said EFF was ineffectual and now say they made 
their best effort, there really is no reason to fight. I'll 
just make a song and that will suffice. If people hear a good
Anti-DMCA song they will get out of this mess. 

You're right. Even though PDF is really the only thing you can use, expecting
the masses to cut back is insane. Especially cutting back while we've been
at this for 3 weeks.

I'm also not going to imagine that your defeatist attitude actually
hurts morale or participation. We should all feel as beaten back 
and attempt to prove that with numbers and fractions and as your 
link shows, "the decline of the internet." Making a difference to even 
just one person has no meaning as you have shown. 
No, I lose, you lose, we all lose. 

But wait, Dmitry is just one person. I am just one person. The other
people on this list are just one persons. Geez, a bunch of one
persons can cause a lot of fuss.

I hope you don't send other people off-list emails like this. Unlike me they
might actually read them and think you have a point or two...

I hope you aren't some Microsoft Morale manipulation expert. I'm starting
to think that from your other emails:
http://zork.net/pipermail/free-sklyarov/2001-August/003010.html

If you would like to continue this enlightening discussion, you
should probably just send me email directly. I don't think the 
others want to hear it.

</MASSIVE FLAME>

On 15-Aug-2001, Bob La Quey wrote:
> 
> >
> >Really, well can you explain why my website gets over 10,000 hits per day?
> >
> >http://www.anti-dmca.org
> >
> >> 
> >> But this is the right fight and you are on the right side. 
> 
> This is good. I don't mean to belittle it. But to put it in perspective 
> this nation has over 100 Million adults using the Internet. If each of 
> your hits reprsents a unique individual then 300,000/month 0r 1/3 of 1% 
> of these people have hit your site. I suspect we are indeed lucky if 
> 50,000 unique individuals have ever seen your site. We have a ways to go. 
> 
> http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38515-2001Feb21.html
> 
> My real problem is not with cheerleading or being pleased with results
> but with the sort of expectation that is raised by your rhetoric,
> 
> >I can smell the smoldering remains of these over
> >protective, under encrypted, stomping Rights companies now...
> 
> I do agree that these companies are dinosaurs. But they are large and very 
> dangerous dinosaurs who got the DMCA passed by 99-0 despite the best efforts 
> of the EFF. I expect this fight to go on for years, if not decades, so I 
> find any thing that suggests a quick victory is naive and likely to lead
> to disenchantment. I would like to see the younger fellows still fighting 
> the meta battle 30 years from now, well after some of us are long dead, 
> because I do believe the battle is never won but rather only changes form. 
> 
> Take a look at http://download.cnet.com/downloads/ 
> 
> and select the Most Popular link, which may be
> 
> http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10001-102-0-1.html?tag=st.dl.10001.dir.10001-102-1
> 
> The numbers run toward a million downloads each week. 
> 
> I note that Adobe Acrobat has been on these charts for 156 weeks and is currently
> number 19 with 58,614 downloads last week. Not exactly a "smoldering remain". 
> 
> It may be that getting a single "Free Dmitry" hit mp3 does as much to build the
> consciousness of a large number of people as anything. 
> 
> Buena suerte amigos,
> 
> 
> Bob La Quey