[OT] - New virus?

[D. D. Brierton]

On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 22:41, Kyle Maxwell wrote:
> The post was off-topic (as you even noted in the subject line). There
> are *many* other forums for security discussions (ISC as you
> mentioned, the Incidents mailing list, etc.) and the least amount of
> effort would have found them. Lots of people on this list are
> interested in the US presidential election or possibly even the recent
> release of Doom 3 but that does not mean that this is the place to
> discuss it.
> 
> Personally, I was very interested in the post itself (as network
> security is my day job) but the post still should have been done in
> the appropriate forum. This forum is "for users of Fedora Core
> releases. If you want help with a problem installing or using Fedora
> Core, this is the list for you." (from the Fedora website). Windows
> security issues just aren't relevant.

This is a tricky subject, one I hope doesn't turn into an enormous
thread, and I think it calls for judgement on a case by case basis
rather than rules.

The post was off-topic, but there is some scope on this list for the
occasional off-topic post. Especially when the nature of the post is
tangentially related to the proper subject matter of this list (which
the US presidential election and Doom 3 aren't). Lots of people use
Fedora Core in ways which interact with Windows boxes -- maybe they run
a mail server which is accessed by Windows machines, or maybe they use
Samba to provide print and file-sharing services for Windows machines.
Things which effect those Windows machines may come to effect the
machine(s) running FC.

I think that if off-topic posts are kept to a minimum, and replies to
them don't get out-of-hand, and if a huge secondary thread doesn't
develop on whether the post should have been posted at all, then posts
like this should be acceptable. It just takes all of us to use our sound
sober judgement on what to post in the first place, and what to reply
to. Sometimes one off-topic post that was marginally acceptable
generates a whole slew of replies waxing philosophical on what is
on-topic and what is off-topic on the list, thereby doing far more
damage than the original post ever did. (Oh. A bit like this one. Damn.)

Best, Darren

-- 
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D. D. Brierton            darren at dzr-web.com          www.dzr-web.com
       Trying is the first step towards failure (Homer Simpson)
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