Re: Why not a changeling?

[stpeters () NETHEAVEN COM (Dick St.Peters)]

White Vampire writes:
>       I do not really understand why so much debate, attention, and
> concern is directed to things such as this.  They live and depend upon
> stupid software, stupid lusers, and stupid implementations.

Is the net only for the smart?

I have users who are illiterate.  They can't read, but they can click.
Some get audio clips in their native language from people they haven't
seen in decades.  Maybe I should tell them we've decided the software
that does this for them is stupid software and we won't allow it
anymore?

Others will learn to read later when they're old enough to go to
school.  Maybe I should tell them they're stupid lusers who don't
belong on our net until they get their CS degrees?

I have a user in the final stages of a degenerative neurological
disease.  He can move only his eyes and one toe.  With a jury-rigged
toe-operated mouse he can struggle through reading email, but just
having to click OK to view something would be a major hassle.  Maybe
his account should be canceled because a toe-operated pointer is too
stupid an implementation?

I think not.  The net has so much value in part because it can and
does accommodate so many more people than just the literate
English-speaking young adult elite of the industrialized world.

However, it is the task of that elite to do what it can to protect
those who cannot protect themselves.  The people to have in mind are
not your peers but the elderly, children, Chinese peasants, Italian
shopkeepers, African villagers, etc.

--
Dick St.Peters, stpeters () NetHeaven com
Gatekeeper, NetHeaven, Saratoga Springs, NY
Saratoga/Albany/Amsterdam/BoltonLanding/Cobleskill/Greenwich/
GlensFalls/LakePlacid/NorthCreek/Plattsburgh/...
    Oldest Internet service based in the Adirondack-Albany region