davidjl@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (David J Leitko) (04/16/91)
Like most discussions on the net, this issue has ballooned far
beyond its intended scope. While I don't want to fan the
flames, I feel compelled to explain myself.
First of all, my message to Prof. Salmi was a _personal_
_e-mail_ response to something he posted to the net. You
can imagine how surprised I was to find so much bandwidth
devoted to it on the net the next evening. The first half
of my message pointed out an error he made in his article.
I also took the opportunity to point out some of things
he does which _I_think_ bother a lot of novices. Prof. Salmi
only published this latter portion of my mail to the net.
My intent was to air my feelings privately, so as not to
offend Prof. Salmi or the net with a public assault. I have
always been of the opinion that the net is for general
interest discussion, and e-mail is for personal discussions,
and to violate that was a breach of etiquette.
Secondly, I want to make it clear that I deeply respect
those of you who donate your time and efforts to moderate
newsgroups and ftp archives, Prof. Salmi included. The
resources donated by you people to organize, compile,
create, and distribute these archives, FAQs, etc. are
truly appreciated, and someday I hope to return the favor.
I also agree that it is important to make people aware of
these archives -- how to find them and how to use them.
But I also think it is beneficial to help resolve software
questions within newsgroups, primarily because people can
discuss the application of algorithms, how they can be
optimized, and whether they are "correct". For example,
if I recall correctly, Prof. Salmi is a fan of an earlier
version of Turbo Pascal. Perhaps recent changes in the
compiler allow for a more appealing solution to a problem
than that offered by his program. (By using the built
in assembler, object orientation, or extended syntax, for
example.) To me, this is what networking is all about.
I realize it is difficult to strike a balance between
these latter _ideals_, especially with as little time as
most of us have to devote to the net. But there are
cases where the time required to simply explain a
procedure is much shorter and publicly educational
than: 1) read novice question, 2) scan several
databases for an example of the problem, 3) send results
to novice, 4) novice gets results, 5) novice spends
extended period trying to learn ftp, zip, zoo, zmodem,
and whatever else it takes, 6) novice doesn't
understand poorly documented code and starts over...
(NOTE: I have no experience with code from the net or
Prof. Salmi. This is merely an example.)
Several other issues have been brought up concerning this
situation which I won't address, since they didn't seem
to have any relevence to the discussion. .. Software
plugging is not a crime. Splitting c.b.i.p.d is not an
issue. Garbo download statistics are not an issue. I
am not as novice as some responders assumed, at least
as far as IBM compatibles or Unix are concerned. ;-)
And I have never been on the receiving end of articles
from Prof. Salmi, nor seen any of his code.
In closing, I would hope that Prof. Salmi does take into
account that I did receive a number of letters agreeing
with my standpoint concerning the attitude he portrays
in his messages, so my comments must not have been
completely out of line _given_the_context!_ His posting
did not address this issue, although it was the most
important issue in my message as far as I was concerned.
Similarly, I would urge Prof. Salmi to reconsider his
policy concerning private e-mail. I did receive a number
of "uncalled for", "ridiculous", "blunt", and "vicious
attack" messages as a result of this little incident..
none of which convinced me that I acted incorrectly.
If anything, I may have been a bit too fierce in my
e-mail message to him, which is a matter that should be
resolved between Prof. Salmi and myself, not the net.
Thank you.
David Leitko
"finally i understand
the feelings of the few
ashes and diamonds
foe and friend
we were all equal in the end
-- R. Waters, "The Final Cut"
--
David J Leitko "Bleah!..." davidjl@eecs.cs.pdx.edu
Computer Science Department ..!uunet!tektronix!pdxgate!davidjl
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon This space intentionally left blank.pjh@mccc.edu (Pete Holsberg) (04/16/91)
In article <2385@pdxgate.UUCP> davidjl@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (David J Leitko) writes:
=First of all, my message to Prof. Salmi was a _personal_
=_e-mail_ response to something he posted to the net. You
=can imagine how surprised I was to find so much bandwidth
=devoted to it on the net the next evening. The first half
=of my message pointed out an error he made in his article.
=I also took the opportunity to point out some of things
=he does which _I_think_ bother a lot of novices. Prof. Salmi
=only published this latter portion of my mail to the net.
I for one, think *you* acted correctly and that Timo did not. Timo, not
everyone is going to love you all the time, no matter what good things
you do. Surely, you've run across students who hate you (until years
later!)? If you don't want to get into a flaming exchange with someone
who mails complaints to you, just ignore him/her.
=If anything, I may have been a bit too fierce in my
=e-mail message to him, which is a matter that should be
=resolved between Prof. Salmi and myself, not the net.
Hey, if you're willing to take the resulting heat, you can email anything!
Pete
--
Prof. Peter J. Holsberg Mercer County Community College
Voice: 609-586-4800 Engineering Technology, Computers and Math
UUCP:...!princeton!mccc!pjh 1200 Old Trenton Road, Trenton, NJ 08690
Internet: pjh@mccc.edu Trenton Computer Festival -- 4/20-21/91