Down with tinyurl! (was Re: importing excel data into a python matrix?)

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:25:09 +0000, Tim Harig wrote:

>> And as a datapoint on the topic of archiving, I search usenet archives
>> regularly when faced with a problem.
> 
> Usernet users also have the right to use the X-No-Archive header field.

They do? Is that right enshrined by law somewhere? Can I go to jail for 
human rights abuses if I archive X-No-Archive posts?


> Does the fact that *you* happen to search usenet archives make using
> this field immoral?

Immoral and ineffective.


> Shouldn't the poster have to right to determine for
> themselves whether they care about the long term persistance of their
> posts and be able to balance that against other factors?

If you don't want your post to be read by people in six months, don't 
post it.

It may be that news posts are, in the long term, ephemeral. But in the 
long term, the sun will expand and destroy the earth. In the meantime, 
X-No-Archive is an attempt to revise history by covering up what the 
poster said publicly.



-- 
Steven