CRISPIN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA (07/10/85)
From: Mark Crispin <Crispin@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Jerry Pournelle is under the paranoid delusion that he
doesn't have an MIT-MC account because he supports Reagan's
policies. He said as much to me, very loudly in the presence of
others. He also threatened to call Reagan and/or an unnamed
three-star general to force MIT-MC to give him his account back.
This happened during Westercon. I made the mistake of
trying to assist him in moving to alternative facilities so that
he could rejoin this forum. I really felt bad after hearing
somewhat of the circumstances that he lost his MIT-MC account. I
compounded this mistake by stating that I did not agree with his
political views but was interested in what he had to say.
Pournelle was VERY drunk, and he immediately started lashing
out about how this proves this was a conspiracy to take away his
MIT-MC account because of his support for the President of the
United States, etc. I was then "treated" to a long tirade about
how important he is, all the people he knows, how he was going to
make sure that all these anti-Reagan "enemies" were going to be
purged from the net, how he was going to have the ARPANET shut
down for this offense, ad nauseum.
I am really sorry I tried to help. I don't care if
Pournelle is the greatest SF writer in the world (he isn't), he
has no right to dump abuse on people.
-------todd@bu-cs.UUCP (Todd Cooper) (07/12/85)
If this is true and he did get drunk, I respect him less. I wrote him once and received a form letter back. I wrote Asimov and got a PERSONAL LETTER. Pournelle writes fairly well, but seems to lack humanity and care for anyone who gets in his way. -- --------------------------- Todd Cooper UUCP: ...!harvard!bu-cs!todd ARPA: todd%bu-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa CSNET: todd@bu-cs BITNET: stdttc@bostonu USNail: 29 Gordon Street #201, Boston, MA 02135
figmo@tymix.UUCP (Lynn Gold) (07/15/85)
> If this is true and he did get drunk, I respect him less. I wrote > him once and received a form letter back. I wrote Asimov and > got a PERSONAL LETTER. Pournelle writes fairly well, but seems > to lack humanity and care for anyone who gets in his way. > > Todd Cooper I had the occasion, a few years ago, to exchange ARPAnet mail with Dr. Pournelle. His messages were well written, personable, and clearly thought out. Somehow the topic of drinking came up. Pournelle says he doesn't drink during the month of February "just to show that [he] can." I wish I hadn't deleted the exchange; it was written during the month of (as if you couldn't guess) February. In spite of his behaviour, I found Pournelle to be a most colorful guest to the Internet and wish there were a way other people in the SF business could access the net and exchange knowledge. --Lynn Gold ...tymix!figmo