Newsgroups: alt.radio.networks.npr
From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey)
Date: 1995/09/30
Subject: Re: Mistake in 'Cyber Angel' story

jkwes...@email.unc.edu (Keith Weston) writes:

> Please read my posts fully and don't pull bits out of context....

I have read your posts fully.  I don't think it is out of context to
quote you as saying

> While all the information put forth in a series of these posts is
> correct (e.g. what .gif and .(j)peg stand for, etc.), it appears
> that some folks heard the report with half an ear.  The angel said
> (approximately) that in chat rooms on services the term ".gif, as in
> 'got any .gifs' is a code word for pornography"....

To the extent to which "gif" or "jpeg" is a code word, it is a code
word for "pictures", which in turn, in some contexts, may imply
pornography.  If the angel had said that, it would have been right.
If the angel said what you quoted "approximately", it would have been
merely misleading.  But what I have been told is that the angel said
that "gif" referred to pictures of girls, and "jpeg" referred to
pictures of youths--that the two terms were used to distinguish two
kinds of different subject matter.  And that is just completely wrong.

And if I have the story right, then your above summary indicates that
it is _you_ who have been listening with half an ear, and paraphrasing
out of context, and you should stop chiding other people for such
failings.

Dan
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil