spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) (12/07/88)
Considerable amounts have been written on almost every facet of Brad's
moderation, the posting of jokes, the nature of humor, and the motives and
(lack of) judgement of various individuals such as JEDR, Nancy, & Brad.
Enough.
Can we all now self-impose a moratorium on these topics for a week or
so to cool off and regain some perspective? In particular, we need to
quiet down and not feed the press with anything else they can
misinterpret. Although many members of the press work very hard to get
their facts straight, some organizations (and individuals) are more
concerned with sensationalism and selling papers. Unless you're all
very interested in torpedoing the Usenet completely, just don't say
anything to the press unless you KNOW you are talking to someone with
their head screwed on straight. The press thrives on strident voices
and angry letters -- lets try not to give them more of those.
As to all the nonsense on the net, most of this wouldn't have happened
if EVERYONE involved had been polite and low-key. However, for
whatever reason, there are some personalities involved who either enjoy
the controversy or who are so sure they understand everything there is
to know on the subject that they are not required to be courteous or
reasoned. The best way to deal with such people is ignore them --
without attention, they wither and maybe go away.
If there were any points to be made on either side, they have been lost
in the noise and the fighting. No new worthwhile discussion will come
out of such chaos, so let's give it a break.
After a week of silence on the issue, maybe it won't seem so
important. In the meantime, if you need to say something, do it in
mail -- not news. Better yet, pick up the phone, call the other person
directly, and talk to them as if they were a real live person -- they
may just be. Maybe you can treat them that way.
You can also "vote with your feet." I know if I will continue to read
rec.humor.funny and if I will do anything to have it removed from my
machine. I also know how I will react to JEDR if I should ever meet
him or have any request of his cross my desk or mailbox. I don't need
to broadcast those opinions to the world. Neither do you. Just form
your opinions and let the individuals involved find out the consequences of
their behavior as time goes on. Let's just hope there has been
no permanent damage to the Usenet itself as a result of this foolishness.
There's a real world out there, with real people. Go out and play there for
a while and give the Usenet sandbox a rest. It will lower your stress
levels and make the world a happier place for us all.
--
Gene Spafford
NSF/Purdue/U of Florida Software Engineering Research Center,
Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-2004
Internet: spaf@cs.purdue.edu uucp: ...!{decwrl,gatech,ucbvax}!purdue!spaf