Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!hoptoad!unisoft!gethen!farren From: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren) Newsgroups: news.admin,news.sysadmin,alt.flame Subject: Re: Defending Eric Mading Message-ID: <340@gethen.UUCP> Date: Sat, 14-Nov-87 19:51:45 EST Article-I.D.: gethen.340 Posted: Sat Nov 14 19:51:45 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 16-Nov-87 04:15:09 EST References: <25001COK@PSUVMA> Reply-To: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren) Organization: Sci-Fido - Unix in Oakland Lines: 47 Xref: mnetor news.admin:1377 news.sysadmin:452 alt.flame:584 In article <25001COK@PSUVMA> COK@PSUVMA.BITNET (R. W. Clark, K. S. C.) writes: >I think anyone who's been reading this group for any length of time knows >that while Eric was on the net I was one of his more vocal opponents. However, >I cannot condone the removal of his accounts because of his postings. > >I think that Eric DESERVED to have his accounts removed, but I do not think >that we had the right to cause them to be removed. As one of the people (possibly) who was responsible for causing the revocation of Eric's account, I feel obligated to respond here. I had originally intended to keep quiet, but feel that several assertions made in this article are false. I do not believe that Eric had his accounts terminated because of (or, at least, not solely because of) his posted articles. In my case, it was mail that Eric sent me, personally, which resulted in my sending a letter of strong complaint to his system administrator. I've been posting to Usenet for several years, and Eric's mail to me was the single most offensive piece of trash I have EVER received, one which went far beyond the bounds of civility. And it was fairly clear from the response I got from puff that I was not the only one who had received such mail; there was a long list of cc: respondents attached to the letter I received from Eric's sysadmins. The other thing I disagree with is the assertion that we (whoever "we" are) caused Eric's accounts to be removed. I certainly didn't; in fact, I made it a point to say, in my letter of complaint, that that was NOT what I was asking for, as I felt that that was totally inappropriate for me to ask, especially considering past Net history. All that I asked was for some action to be taken, and left it up to those who knew Eric and knew more of the situation to determine what action was appropriate. It is not for me to tell them what to do; neither is it for me to decry what they did do. I can only assume that they terminated Eric's account because they felt that it was the appropriate action. I believe that this is a sad ending to this whole situation, but also believe that the nature of the situation made a happy ending rather unlikely, if not impossible. Perhaps, if Eric makes it back to the net, he will have learned that a little moderation goes a long way. Personally, I hope that happens, as the one thing that I admired about Eric Mading was his willingness to fight for his opinions; it's just when he changed from a fighter, however misguided, to a destroyer, something had to be done. -- ---------------- Michael J. Farren "... if the church put in half the time on covetousness unisoft!gethen!farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..." gethen!farren@lll-winken.arpa Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days"