From: frogfarm@fatchicksinpartyhats.com (Ian M. Schirado)
Newsgroups: alt.society.sovereign,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.society.sovereign FAQ 0.9c
Followup-To: alt.society.sovereign
Summary: A list of Frequently Asked Questions about the alt.society.sovereign
newsgroup, which should be read by anyone wishing to post there. A
lot of it just rehashes standard netiquette.
Keywords: sovereign legal freedom liberty individual
Expires: Wed, 1 Jan 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: sovereignty-faq
Posting-Frequency: sporadically quarterly
Last-Modified: Sun, 1 September 1996
Version: 0.9c
Bytes: 10,064 [finally went over ten thousand bytes. Blasted 20th century
attention spans...]
This is the BETA Frequently Asked Questions list for alt.society.sovereign,
which has not yet been posted to *.answers. As always, constructive comments
and criticism are welcome.
Nobody. An FAQ didn't exist for this group, so I felt it necessary to invent one. Anyone who doesn't like it is perfectly free to write their own FAQ. I'm not a moderator, and I'm not trying to be one; the decision to moderate a newsgroup unnecessarily complicates things and stifles open discussion. There are plenty of moderated areas elsewhere on the net, if you prefer them.
Aren't you passing judgment on what's "acceptable" on the group?
Yes, and I'm expressing my opinions here. However, I have no power to enforce
those opinions on the rest of the net. The best [worst] I can do is post this
FAQ occasionally, in an attempt to persuade. It is my hope that the signal
will eventually be greater than the noise.
In your opinion then, what is the purpose of this group?
The purpose of alt.society.sovereign is to provide a public forum for the
discussion of "individual sovereignty", which is best described as a state of
freedom theoretically attainable by any mentally competent individual within
one of the States of America, generally entailing some involvement in the
court system and a comfortable level of practical legal knowledge of the sort
that most lawyers, judges and politicians would rather forget about.
The primary focus is on how to successfully defend oneself from prosecution
for exercising one's rights, the better to enjoy and pursue those rights.
Secondary focus is placed on prosecuting agents of government who have done
sufficient damage to one's rights to warrant an offensive approach. You may
wish to read James Donald's
discussion of
Natural Law and Natural
Rights.
The topic of sovereignty is a highly volatile one due to the fundamental
questions it raises regarding the nature of freedom and the legitimacy of
government. It has also been negatively associated for many years with the
stereotype of "racist redneck gun freaks", "nutty tax protestors" and the
like. Some noise is inevitable given the group's unmoderated status, and
this FAQ is one aspect of my attempt to reduce that noise.
The most important thing to remember about alt.society.sovereign is that
nothing on it should be construed as legal advice.
What do you consider inappropriate?
Many people attack material presented here solely out of hostility to the
subject matter, for reasons known only to themselves. A surprisingly high
proportion of these people appear to be either students at law schools or
graduates of law schools; whether this has any relevance is left to the
reader to decide. However, just because someone is a lawyer, or is studying
to be one, does not automatically make them more qualified to discuss these
topics; in fact, the more involved a person is in the traditional legal
hierarchy, the more hostile they generally are to the ideas and concepts
discussed here. As long as you restrict yourself to addressing substantive
issues in a manner respectful of others, you will more than likely be
extended the same courtesy in return.
Before posting, consider whether your post may be more appropriate in one of
the following groups:
Almost anything that doesn't fall into the above categories. Using the above
examples, an appropriate post might be an explanation of your personal
experiences with challenging a drug- or gun-related charge in court.
I still think my post will be appropriate. Any other advice?
For announcements of upcoming events, make sure you allow time for your post
to make its way into the world BEFORE the event takes place. A lag time of
seven days is usually enough for your post to be distributed worldwide and
read by a fair number of people. Be explicit about location, date and other
crucial information. Keep announcements brief and to the point. Remember that
the Internet is global, and an event in (for example) New York City is not
automatically of interest to the rest of the world. You should be able to
change the Distribution header to restrict where your post goes; ask your
local guru for details.
Posts may be of any size; however, large ones run the risk of not being read
and mean less room for other's posts. If you can make documents available via
FTP or the Web, it's better to post a "pointer", that is, a brief description
of the information and instructions on how to find it. Example:
If you are considering crossposting (posting to multiple groups), please take
a moment to consider whether it will truly be appropriate for all of them. If
you crosspost, set the Followup-To header so that responses are directed to a
single group, unless the discussion is truly germane to each and every group.
You will often find crossposts spanning ten or more groups, and it is a Good
Thing to trim followups if the topic has drifted far from its original base.
If you are replying to a message, PLEASE, if at all possible, cut out all of
their text except the parts you are specifically responding to. Many people
don't bother to read messages after they see that the first page is nothing
but quoted text.
Use prefixes in the Subject line of your post based on its content, keep the
subjects themselves as short as possible without being cryptic, and warn the
reader if your post is larger than average. Examples:
This will help people sort through articles, especially if they're doing it
by hand.
Most of these suggestions are variations on basic netiquette. By following
them in every group, not just this one, you can make Usenet a better place
for yourself and everyone else.
Where can I find more information about these topics?
My home
page
isn't a bad place to start.
Thanks for reading this.
** end
[above definitions excerpted and rephrased from alt.atheism FAQ]
alt.conspiracy
alt.flame
alt.revisionism
alt.philosophy.objectivism
alt.politics.usa.constitution
[one of the few truly appropriate crosspost groups]
alt.society.anarchy
alt.society.conservatism
alt.society.revolution
alt.usenet.kooks
misc.activism.militia [moderated]
misc.legal
misc.taxes
talk.politics.democrat
talk.politics.drugs
talk.politics.guns
talk.politics.libertarian
talk.politics.misc
talk.politics.republican
And what do you consider appropriate?
>Joe Blow's excellent article on digital cash from yesterday's Blather Times
>is now available at ftp://ftp.fubar.net/pub/blather/joeblow.txt, and on the
>World Wide Web at http://www.fubar.net/~blather/joeblow.html. He makes a few
>good points on the need for regulation, but still fails to convince me.
>Subject: BETA: FAQ request for comments
>Subject: CASE: Fubar v. U.S. (eminent domain)
>Subject: QUESTION: Does 2nd Amendment apply to crypto?
>Subject: ANNOUNCE: 9th Amendment NYC Seminar, Oct. 24-5
>Subject: POINTER: "The Money Laundromat" available on Web
>Subject: LONG: "The Money Laundromat" (64k)
--
http://frogfarm.home.ml.org/ ...for the best in unapproved information
"We think people like seeing somebody in a uniform on the porch." -US Postal
spokeswoman, quoted in AP, 1/27/96. I don't know about you, but most people I
know who saw someone in uniform on their porch would pull out the shotgun...