on Sun, Dec 10, 2000 at 07:06:40PM -0500, Jim Kroger (kroger@Princeton.EDU) wrote: > Dear Debian list: > > I recently, in unprecedented poor judgement, sent messages to the > list about unsubscribing that were in extremely poor taste. I deeply > and humbly apologize. I had been attempting to unsubscribe from the > list for weeks. I had successfully unsubscribed from the GNOME, KDB, > Yellowdog, and other lists, after subscribing for a few days to find > out some things about LInux; but though I eventually sent several > messages to the unsubscribe address for Debian, then sent mail to the > address listed in the bottom for problems, and finally posted > (politely) to the mailing list for help, I was still not contacted. > This may be due to my filtering, although I had the same filtering > set up for all those mailing lists and had no difficulties > unsubscribing from them. I had become convinced that my messages WERE > NOT reaching the list, and when I noticed again the 60-100 messages > in my box, in frustration I fired off those unfortunate messages in a > matter of seconds, thinking I was doing little more than talking to > the wind. My god, had I thought they would arrive, with my signature > and affiliations attached no less, I would never, never have sent > them. In retrospect I certainly should have more carefully considered > the possibility that in fact they might arrive despite how convinced > I was to the contrary. > > Moreover, I'm aware of the role Debian has played in bringing Linux > into the mainstream of computing, and have great respect for them, > and have no desire to demean the people at Debian or those that > support and use it. > > I hope you understand that I did not intend this, and hope that you > will accept my humble apology for those messages. > > Jim Kroger > _________________________________________________________ > James K. Kroger, Ph.D. > Center for the Study of Brain, Mind, and Behavior > Department of Psychology > 3-N-4D Green Hall > Princeton University > Princeton, NJ 08544-1010, USA > Tel: (609) 258-1291 > Fax: (609) 258-1113 > kroger@princeton.edu > http://www.princeton.edu/~kroger/home/ My own comments to this list. I'd contact Dr. Kroger by email and phone, and received an apologetic response from him this afternoon. While I do accept his apology, I feel his earlier actions were beyond the bounds of good taste. I think it would also be helpful for the Debian team to review the factors leading up to this incident. Apparently, Dr. Kroger did repeatedly try to unsubscribe from the debian-users list over the course of several weeks, his final outburst was one of frustration. Seeing that contact address actually do result in contact and response would be a Good Thing [tm]. And a note to other listmembers: public humiliation is not something to be taken lightly. While I've found it effective in *very rare instances* in the past, it should be used only in aggregious cases. I'd checked that the technical origin of the posts attributed to Dr. Kroger did in fact appear to be posted from a site plausibly associated with him. I followed up my initial post to him and several colleagues with one suggesting that the posts may not have been his own doing. Though it in fact was, it was a gross oversight of my own not to have suggested this possibility in my original mail. Dr. Kroger now has some personal concerns regarding his reputation. I'd like to suggest that those who've addressed this issue might be willing to recommend that though his judgement be criticized, drastic repercussions are not appropriate for his actions, and be willing to speak on Dr. Kroger's behalf to this end. I've offered to do so myself. I think most of us have had our own email goofs and can probably relate. Finally, please note that this mail is being directed to several recipients. I'd advise an awareness of this and suggest response addresses be directed as appropriate. Cheers. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://www.netcom.com/~kmself What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
Attachment:
pgpMb_5z3cBX3.pgp
Description: PGP signature