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ECHO TALK -
Key Shapero on Cooperation

ECHO TALK
Food for thought from Fido's echomail.
Purloined without permission by D Myers

Kay Shapero on Cooperation

DM> I remember that cooperation stuff. I think it got replaced by
DM>P4 about ten years ago :(

Actually it still goes on (speaking as one of the folks who just finished voluntarily notifying every moderator who hadn't checked in since the change of echolist keeper, to make sure they knew where to mail their updates). What people tend to forget is that P4 is a set of operational rules, not laws.

Operational rules tell you how to do something, and if you don't follow them it doesn't get done. Laws tell you what you MUST do (or not do) under pain of enforcement. Operational rules can be pretty broad, so long as the necessary information appears in sufficient detail that the reader can figure out how to do it right. Laws have to be incredibly specific, in order to avoid loopholes. Operational rules are like explaining to a human being; laws are more like programming a computer. And ultimately, operational rules exist on the assumption that those involved intend to cooperate, laws on the assumption that a significant fraction do NOT.

I submit that there isn't enough true enforcement power in the entirety of FIDOnet to convert it into a true rule by law organization, but that the attempt, if carried through forcefully enough can kill it. I know I'd be unlikely to hang around... and like the rest of us I do have other places to go.