Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!nbires!stcvax!hao!woods
From: woods@hao.ucar.edu (Greg Woods)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Forgeries: a suggestion for bringing them under control
Message-ID: <1129@hao.ucar.edu>
Date: 28 Jan 88 23:34:51 GMT
References: <1861@epimass.EPI.COM> <14276@oddjob.UChicago.EDU> <5300@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <774@brandx.rutgers.edu>
Reply-To: woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods)
Organization: High Altitude Obs./NCAR, Boulder CO
Lines: 28

In article <774@brandx.rutgers.edu> webber@brandx.rutgers.edu (Webber) writes:
>It is a real shame that so many admins post
>messages essentially indicating that if they can't boss the users then
>there is nothing in life worthwhile -- sigh.

  Unfortunately the term "boss the users" carries implications of a motivation
based on craving for power that may not, in fact, be present. As a sys
admin I do want to be able to control my users, but only because I do not
feel that I can do the job properly without the capability to restrict
access to the machine (or a software subsystem such as news) by any user
that is, in my opinion, abusing the system or doing something that may
either damage the reputation of our organization or interfere with the ability
of other users here to make use of the machine. Without this ability I cannot
guarantee to do my job, which is to keep things running smoothly so that
EVERYONE on the machine can get their work done in harmony. I do not want
to "control" anyone beyond this. I don't want to keep news articles containing
opinions that I disagree with from being posted. I just want to do my job.
  Fortunately, very seldom do any of our users need "controlling", and most
of the time it has sufficed to issue a warning. More often than not it
is ignorance rather than malice that leads to abuse of the system (such as
the visiting scientist who did about 8 rlogins back and forth between the
same two machines, and the student last summer who was posting dirty jokes
unrotated). Similarly it is usually a desire to keep the machine in a state
that provides maximum benefit to ALL the users, rather than a desire to
"boss", dominate or censor anyone, that prompts sys admins to restrict
use of the machine by certain users.

--Greg