Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!brandx.rutgers.edu!webber
From: webber@brandx.rutgers.edu (Webber)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Forgeries: a suggestion for bringing them under control
Message-ID: <784@brandx.rutgers.edu>
Date: 31 Jan 88 06:21:42 GMT
References: <1861@epimass.EPI.COM> <14276@oddjob.UChicago.EDU> <1129@hao.ucar.edu> <1133@hao.ucar.edu>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 32

In article <1133@hao.ucar.edu>, woods@hao.ucar.edu (Greg Woods) writes:
< ....
<  If action X happens to be important to the purpose of the machine, then this
< is pretty bad system administration. On the other hand, if action X is
< "playing rogue", then a system administrator, who typically is responsible
< for lots of software subsystems, might be perfectly justified in saying
< that "X is broken and no one has time to fix it". If attempts to do X,
< due to the problems with X, interfere with other users trying to get work
< done, then again I think any competent system administrator should forbid
< users to do X. It's only "laziness" in the sense that the system administrator
< is not willing to work a 60-hour week. You could just as easily blame this
< kind of thing on management for not providing adequate support for their
< machines. ...

A 60 hour week is only 5 12 hour days.  Pretty normal work hours from
all I have seen.  Competent system administrators have tended to be more
like old-fashioned country doctors on 24-hour call than factory workers
waiting for the 5pm whistle.  I can't imagine anyone thinking of rogue
as part of the software the system administrator maintains (except perhaps
as a hobby if they happen to play).  However, if the playing of rogue were
crashing the system, then it would clearly be something worth careful 
investigation.  After all, rogue isn't an isolated kernel call, but instead
uses much the same calls as the rest of the system so if there was something
wrong with it there would be other problems too.  

But, back to the main point, the fact that managements understaff computer
support and/or expect non-professional 40-hour workers to be able to
administer a system is no reason to further expect such people to be up
to managing users as well.  While it is to be expected that such overburdened
or misclassified people will occasionally do things they shouldn't,
that doesn't make them right.

----- BOB (webber@athos.rutgers.edu ; rutgers!athos.rutgers.edu!webber)