Bruce vs ESR

Posted Sep 9, 2005 19:48 UTC (Fri) by rickmoen (subscriber, #6943) [Link]

(Disclosure: I am on good terms with both of the people in question -- and hope to remain that way.)

First and foremost, the private e-mail about which Bruce (and you, rfunk) have, rather questionably, proclaimed that its author intended as a "threat" (impliedly, of violence) should not have been a matter for public mailing lists and Web sites, at all. Bruce, if you honestly believed it to be such, reporting it to your police department was appropriate — but posting it to debian-devel and elsewhere most certainly was not. One can reasonably posit a passive-aggressive attempt at character assassination in your reaction.

So: Bruce (and apologies to you and Eric both, for this being less than timely), simmer down, and, if you must fight, fight fair: You know that's no way to behave. As it is, the main lesson you've given people is "Don't trust Bruce with unguarded comments in private e-mail." Is that what you really want to be known for? Please understand that I say this with nothing but friendly intent.

Eric: Although any reasonable and minimally charitable reader would understand that the natural way an author and essayist will tend to "make you regret" things is with the pen rather than the sword (or boomstick or aikido punch), and that you do not have any history of beating people up just because you're frustrated and annoyed with them, a moment's contemplation will remind you that your "tribe" is unfortunately riddled with scurrilous gossips and trolls possessed of little or no moral scruple, not to mention those inclined to post first and switch on their brains later.

Nathan (ncm): I assume you've switched your brain back on, by now. ;-)

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com