Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!encore!bzs
From: bzs@Encore.COM (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Protecting Password Files
Message-ID: <4491@xenna.Encore.COM>
Date: 26 Dec 88 22:03:56 GMT
References: <7274@chinet.chi.il.us> <4484@xenna.Encore.COM> <7282@chinet.chi.il.us>
Organization: Encore Computer Corp, Marlboro, MA
Lines: 32
In-reply-to: ptownson@chinet.chi.il.us's message of 26 Dec 88 15:08:59 GMT
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.41.15 of Tue Jun  9 1987 on xenna (berkeley-unix)


From: ptownson@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick Townson)
>I'm sorry you felt the question was 'misleading, ignorant tripe which is
>utterly irresponsible'.....and 'garbage'. Actually, Mr. Shein, I had very high
>hopes for this news.group. I thought here, surely, I would receive a detailed
>and technically correct answer to my query. I expected it to be the one place
>I might receive the requisite knowledge of unix required to maximize my use
>of these machines. Surely the idle.chatter groups are of no help.

Oh cut the alligator tears.

You didn't make a query, you didn't ask a question, you stated
pompously and (seemingly) authoritatively that unix has a serious
security flaw in that it allows anyone to edit /etc/passwd via use of
DIRED, in general. That's a SERIOUS claim and can send a lot of
readers running for the hills, you just don't want to take
responsibility (but you claim you read this group to get information?)

Perhaps now you understand how idle.chatter groups become idle.chatter
groups and of no help, nothing like people who know full well they
don't know what they're talking about posing as authorities to make a
group useless.

If I make a technical error in a technical group like this I welcome
being bashed for it and certainly hope no one ever hesitates because
they're afraid it would hurt my feelings. Therein lies mediocrity.

It would be nice if somehow people could become authorities without
bothering themselves with hard work or so much as cracking a manual,
unfortunately no method to achieve this has been discovered.

	-Barry Shein, ||Encore||