false identity

[Diana York Blaine]

On Sat, 26 Apr 1997, Dale L. Larson wrote:

Diana,> 
> This appears to be a joke, and is kind of amusing.  If it is a joke, 
> thanks for being a good sport, but you should have done something to give 
> it away for sure, in the tradition of April 1st usenet postings.

I guess the issue *is* what people *should* have done, Dale.

> In case it isn't a joke (and unfortunately, the lawsuit jokes are getting
> old),
> 
Sorry our jokes aren't fresh enough for the next volume of Siegeliana!

> I have no other way to contact you, so I'm making a good
> faith effort to reach you by the only means available, and hoping that the
> postmaster at your site can reach you.  You should have posted other contact
> information in your false identity post.

While we are *shoulding* on each other, you *should* have asked us in the 
first place.  *Good* and *faith* aren't only legalese to some of us, you
know. And you talked about avoiding the heartless corporate milieu....
 
> The book which includes quotes attributed to you is already being printed, so
> it is too late to change the book now, even if we already had your
> documentation (which we don't).  We made a good-faith effort to properly
> attribute any posts made from your account to your account.  I'm afraid the
> only legal action you could properly take would be against the imposter, and
> the implied threat of your message is not appreciated. If you believe
> otherwise, please have your attorney contact us immediately. With proper

Again with the *good faith*?  How about contacting me in *good faith*
before the text was a fait accompli?  You made an (ahem) *good faith* 
effort to "attribute any posts made from [my] account to [my)
account," but of course you never actually contacted *me.*  Hence
your vulnerability at this odd moment in cyber history.

Because the tone of your message shifts so radically from jocular to
priggish, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give it a C-.  Oh, and Dale,

WELCOME TO POSTMODERNISM.

Diana Blaine
(or her *real* poststructural post-humanist cyber simulacrum)