woods@most.weird.com (Greg A. Woods) wrote:

[ On , January 15, 2000 at 22:24:53 (-0800), Paul Vixie wrote: ]

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Subject: Re: Fw: Administrivia: ORBS

So, Greg, have you stopped beating your wife? (Never mind.)

Oh, boy, you were being a real asshole the other day....

I'll have you know that I didn't see this until today because I've been in the hospital caring for my wife who fell and broke her ankle very badly the other day.

If I were an American I'd have your ass in court. But I'm not a slandering inconsiderate bastard.

Oh dear - I think you've misunderstood. "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is irony - the point being that you can't answer "Yes" or "No" without logically acknowledging that you have at some point beaten your wife, even if you haven't. You seem to want people to accept that imposing your will on other people without asking (allegory: "beating your wife") is ok in one context (ORBS scanning people's mail servers without asking), but not in another (spammers using people's mail relays without asking). The "I don't want anyone imposing their will on me without asking." option doesn't exist in your argument, just as the "I've never beaten my wife." option didn't exist in Paul's question. M.