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From: edhall@randvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.admin,misc.legal,alt.flame
Subject: Re: Responsibility for postings.
Message-ID: <1198@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Oct-87 12:07:59 EST
Article-I.D.: randvax.1198
Posted: Tue Oct 27 12:07:59 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Oct-87 22:37:51 EST
References: <4611@videovax.Tek.COM> <2294@umn-cs.UUCP> <1606@dasys1.UUCP> <563@bucket.UUCP> <2152@kitty.UUCP>
Reply-To: edhall@rand-unix.UUCP (Ed Hall)
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 28
Xref: hoptoad news.admin:1236 misc.legal:3124 alt.flame:392
Summary: Larry Lippman's lesson for the net

I can't speak for the rest of the net, but Larry has blown whatever good
will I would have had for him.  I've been reading his postings on
telecommunications and in other areas for some time, and he has always
seemed to be a model net-citizen.  But the sheer vindictiveness of his
recent postings, the raving tone he uses in them, and the hours and
hours he appears to be willing to devote to them, give me the image of a
spoiled child, and not the mature and knowledgable individual I've
always assumed he was.

I know this is news.admin, hardly the place for personal reflections
like the above, except that there is a lesson here that net
administrators should take note of:

Most of us know each other only through our postings (and, perhaps,
Email).  We each have a ``net-persona,'' formed solely on the basis of
these communications, and whether we are listened to or not depends
entirely on the good will we have created in our readers.  I'm forever
going to view Larry's postings with suspicion because of this flap, even
postings in technical newsgroups, since I now have this spoiled-child
image of him.

Like it or not, net administrators are leaders and role-models for the
net, so it is especially important that you maintain the net's good
will.  Please heed the lesson of Larry Lippman.

		-Ed Hall
		edhall@rand.org
		{allegra,ihnp4}!sdcrdcf!randvax!edhall