Mischief

• Sociological/political question by Tony C., 1/2/98
  • an article about harassment by John Suler, 1/3/98
    
    

May we discuss the question of Fair Use? For example, I have referenced part of your book which describes the kind of problem I encountered by the "Fire Dept Fundraiser by Trade, Pitbull when needed" person who marked his territory in The Virginians Online Chat room.

Mischief

As I just mentioned, Bumgardner originally intended Palace to be a playful, somewhat mischievous place - a place where people could feel that they were "getting away with something." Playing jokes on fellow users is acceptable behavior. Naive newbies make for easy targets. Sometimes, it may just be a good-natured prank. Sometimes it may have a hostile edge. It's a thin line between acceptable mischief and unacceptable abuse. For example, by "spoofing" someone with the "msay" command, you can throw your voice to make the text balloon pop out of someone else's head. Or you can make the words hang in mid-air with no body attached. Making your friend say "I am a zygote and live in a tea kettle" could be a hoot. But some people use spoofing to mistreat others. A member, rather inappropriately, kept putting the words "I'm gay!" into the mouth of another user as he was trying to carry on a conversation with me. Using msay like this may indicate the person's inability to contain their own troublesome thoughts or feelings, while also being unable to own up to those thoughts or feelings for fear of how others will react.

• fair use and ownership on the web by John Suler, 1/14/98