falcone@erlang.DEC (JOE FALCONE, HLO2-3/N03, DTN 225-6059) (02/18/85)
CC: I am personally really fed up with honey and chuqui and trb and all the rest turning this into a damned circus. Someone received some flames, got mad as hell, and decided not to take it anymore. I have received flames in my mailbox and I too have wanted to pull the plug on my ACU for a cooling-off period. Its called being human. Those who are calling people who "defend" Perlman "misinformed", "easily manipulated", or "bleeding hearts" are missing the point. I did not send my note to defend Perlman - I sent my note because I am personally fed up with the small minority of netters who feel that it is their God-given right to launch personal attacks at pathnames (publicly or privately). Quite honestly, I get enough of that at work - I don't need some strange path on the network to give me a hard time. To me, this sort of behavior acts as a deterrent. I don't dare submit anything unless I feel prepared for a flame or two. On the other hand, I've had a few thank you notes from people which brightened my day. Ladies and Gentlemen, lets get back to common courtesy. The next time any of you feel a personal flame coming on, go for a can of pop or a bag of Fritos, and try to rephrase your flame into something a tad more constructive. Unfortunately, while it is certainly human to get angry and leave, it is also very human to be hostile and attack, so this is something we'll probably have to learn to live with. C'est la vie... Joe Falcone Eastern Research Lab Digital Equipment Corp.