I've gone through and deleted a number of messages relating to pirated movies and software. (Thanks to Sick of You for his efforts to kill pirate information -- I've been busy changing diapers and arguing about 9/11.)

Just a reminder: please do not post messages here asking where to get pirated movies or software, or offering pirated movies. This site is retromoderated: I occasionally check in and delete messages which violate the site policy.

I should also remind people who post personal attacks and forgeries that the Internet isn't as anonymous as you might think. Philip Greenspun's bulletin board software records your IP address whenever someone posts a message here.

-- Russil Wvong (russilwvong@yahoo.com), March 05, 2003

Answers

A quote from Bruce Sterling's "The Hacker Crackdown" which seems relevant:

Boards can be distinguished by the amount of effort spent in regulating them. First, we have the completely open board, whose sysop is off chugging brews and watching re-runs while his users generally degenerate over time into peevish anarchy and eventual silence. Second comes the supervised board, where the sysop breaks in every once in a while to tidy up, calm brawls, issue announcements, and rid the community of dolts and troublemakers. Third is the heavily supervised board, which sternly urges adult and responsible behavior and swiftly edits any message considered offensive, impertinent, illegal or irrelevant. And last comes the completely edited "electronic publication," which is presented to a silent audience which is not allowed to respond directly in any way.

-- Russil Wvong (russilwvong@yahoo.com), March 05, 2003.

If you haven't already seen it, there's a Video CD FAQ that answers some basic questions about Video CD.

-- Russil Wvong (russilwvong@yahoo.com), February 04, 2004.