This was a concern for the researcher and
Sysop of the Wiki site, since this image would not comply with the Creative Commons licence if it was part of a television broadcast from a commercial company.
million registered user accounts, over 1000
sysop accounts, and 16
(114.) Johnson & Post, supra note 9, at 1389 ("System operators (
sysops) have an extremely powerful enforcement tool at their disposal to enforce such rules--banishment.").
The software packages used to run BBS servers are proprietary and non-standardized, so the services available on any given BBS are defined both by the capability of the software and the
sysop's choice as to which of the available services he wishes to enable.
Fortunately, the "
sysops" I know take so much pride in the integrity of their systems that they would rather go off line than do any such thing.
Since the Internet lacks both a central authority and an internal governance structure, regulation of users' conduct has traditionally been a matter of self-regulation by member communities.(219) Yet, few of those who administer bulletin boards (known as "
Sysops") and similar network services exercise much control over the information flow passing through their systems.(220) Those who do seek to maintain order beyond mere reliance upon voluntary compliance with express or implied rules of netiquette find their enforcement options limited to restricting users' access or ostracizing offensive users altogether.
Ayelet Baron, Assistant
Sysop for the IABC/Hyperspace Forum and works as an independent consultant through her company, PeopleComm:
The proprietor and operator of a BBS--often called the system operator, or "
sysop"--may be a commercial operator, such as America Online, Prodigy or CompuServe.(56) A company might establish an internal BBS, with a
sysop from the technical support department.
It would seem that the most fruitful work on the Net would cast the artist as something of a
sysop, putting the accent on the give-and-take with the user.
After your BBS has been configured properly and is running smoothly, you'll need a system operator (
sysop) to operate it.
The infrastructure that is needed to manage a new community- the cost of a
sysop, software development, and a producer's time - means that a balance will have to be struck between keeping communities small enough to foster a sense of belonging on the one hand, and letting them grow large enough to be economically viable on the other.