Distribution of FAQ to CompuServe, American Online, etc.

I've had two messages this afternoon asking if people could/should
post the Cyhernomicon on AOL and CompuServe. I replied in a negative
way to each request, but maybe I need to explain further.

My "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" has been spread to many boards. Which
is good, I guess. What's not good in this electronic age is dealing
with the dozen or so messages I get in most weeks asking questions,
challenging the assumptions, requestiing explanations of terms like
"MIPS" and "ISDN," etc.  

("Like, dewd, anarchy is like cool..heh heh heh" or "I'm writing a
paper for my Poli Sci class and I have some questions...")  

I just don't have the time to do this kind of "outreach." Some of them
I tell about the Cypherpunks list--some of you may've joined via this
sort of thing--but others I just thank, telling them I can't engage in
a letter-writing process with them.

Back to CompuServe and AOL. The FAQ I wrote has a lot of
Cypherpunks-centric material in it, and is not intended as an
"outreach" document (as, say, some short libertarian books by Hazlitt
and Karl Hess were intended to be).

I don't even plan to announce it on Usenet, so announcing it on
CompuServe, AOL, etc., seems like a bad idea.

On the other hand, putting it on these services and then announcing it
only to Cypherpunks is OK...just another distribution channel.

But don't advertise it to non-Cypherpunks, for these reasons.


I just can't handle the questions that would arise. 

I hope you all can understand this.

--Tim May


--


..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----


> But don't advertise it to non-Cypherpunks, for these reasons.

> I just can't handle the questions that would arise. 

> I hope you all can understand this.

Hmm .. sounds like a good opportunity to spawn off a pseudonym. 
The Cyphernomicon can stand on its own two feet with respect to 
being useful - it's nice to know that Tim May wrote it, but it'd
be interesting if some nobody did, also. Perhaps the next edition
*should* be (apparently) published by some unknown nobody .. 
Klaus! von Future Prime, or some other fictional character who
doesn't get (or need to reply to) E-mail. Important corrections or
other comments can get sent to the list for general digestion and
discussion. 


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> > But don't advertise it to non-Cypherpunks, for these reasons.
> 
> > I just can't handle the questions that would arise. 
> 
> > I hope you all can understand this.
> 
> Hmm .. sounds like a good opportunity to spawn off a pseudonym. 
> The Cyphernomicon can stand on its own two feet with respect to 
> being useful - it's nice to know that Tim May wrote it, but it'd
> be interesting if some nobody did, also. Perhaps the next edition
> *should* be (apparently) published by some unknown nobody .. 
> Klaus! von Future Prime, or some other fictional character who
> doesn't get (or need to reply to) E-mail. Important corrections or
> other comments can get sent to the list for general digestion and
> discussion. 

How about The Mad Cryptographer Abdul RSAed :-)  [As opposed to
the Mad Arab Abdul Alzhared]