A day in the life of the CentOS team [LWN.net]

A day in the life of the CentOS team

Posted Mar 27, 2006 15:39 UTC (Mon) by clump (subscriber, #27801) [Link]

I wish this comment to be read in the most respectful tone possible. CentOS provides something useful for many people. As stated in the exchange, this is done free of charge. Those actions alone are extremely commendable. Diagnosing/solving the gentleman's issues was also very commendable.

However, I cannot disagree further about the wisdom of posting the exchange. It is very true that the gentleman was wrong to threaten law enforcement and to have not done basic troubleshooting. It is also very clear the gentleman is not well-versed with computers. Yet what type of exchange it would be was set with the first line of the first response to him.

You quoted the line "I have no fear of the media, in fact I welcome this publicity." I would assume that was said in the heat of battle, and was certainly said before the issue had been resolved. The gentleman thought his machines were comprimised -- wrongly -- and reacted as such. His problem was solved, and the exchange was posted.

Posting his words, knowing how wrong he was from the start, serves only to humiliate him, invite others to humiliate him, and does nothing positive for Linux or anyone involved.

A day in the life of the CentOS team

Posted Mar 27, 2006 21:56 UTC (Mon) by allesfresser (subscriber, #216) [Link]

>Posting his words, knowing how wrong he was from the start, serves only to
>humiliate him,

Yes, and why is that bad, in this context? The attitude displayed in his emails, as someone has posted elsewhere in this comment thread, is essentially "I'll yell at you until things work, and then blame you for the problem--since you know how to fix it, you must have caused it in the first place."

Just like a con man depends on people's nice natures to exploit them financially, people with this kind of attitude depend on the victim's instinct to be polite to be able to steamroller their way into getting what they don't deserve. The victim feels guilty standing up to them because it's Not Nice to interrupt, to insist upon proper treatment. There's no repercussions for the bully's behavior, and so he goes on doing it.

This public posting is an example of repercussions for one's uncivil behavior, and I believe it was well-deserved and probably long overdue. (I have a suspicion that a few people around Tuttle might inwardly be grinning if they hear of this, as this kind of behavior doesn't pop out of nowhere...he might well behave like this in other situations too.) Too bad the Tuttle Times is probably not going to do any reporting on the issue, being a small-town paper and not having the leverage of a large media organization to risk angering the local tribal chief, so to speak--since he's a public official, the people of Tuttle, Oklahoma deserve to know how they're being badly represented.

>invite others to humiliate him,

Same as above...

>and does nothing positive for Linux or anyone involved.

No. It does in fact do something positive. A bully got some payback, and I for one (and, it seems, quite a few others) are quite pleased about it. And if it gets around enough, it might prevent a few similar incidents in the future. The one thing I would say on the other side though, as others have, is that the first line of Johnny's first response was probably a poor choice of words to start out with, even though it rings true in light of subsequent events.

A day in the life of the CentOS team

Posted Mar 31, 2006 18:08 UTC (Fri) by jmmc (guest, #34939) [Link]

clump, your comment is well stated and some part of me initally agreed with your sentiments.

Yet, stepping back a bit, I'm going to side with allesfresser on this:

Sometimes, imh experience, the bully must be bullied (back). I and think this case warranted it. Name dropping (calling) the FBI is just the worst kind of response for a person in his position and situation.

I've found folk in IT to be some of the most well-intentioned, solve-problems-that-aren't-really-my-problem, 'do-no-harm'-type folk I've ever met, in any walk of life, period. IT folks I know solve all kinds of so-called 'technical' problems for people with things that might not even be related to their immediate job (phones, copiers, helping people use their iPods, PIMs) on top of a LOT of 'home user' PC advice to their coworkers, brothers and sister, friends, in-laws, etc. I was naive at first, but I now know there _are_ people who take advantage of IT folks willingness to be mostly goodly-natured problem-solvers first and foremost. Some of the more perceptive 'bullies' have picked this up over time.

It sounded to me like Johnny _wanted_ to help the guy at first, but the OK manager's own arrogance seemed to block him from listening and understanding what Johnny was trying to tell him - shame on him (the OK manager). At least that's how the exchange came off to me.

As well, the gentleman from OK did indeed, begin this volley, and imho, way too aggressively. True, any one of us may have responded differently than Johnny at CentOS, but I did not think Johnny's responses were too out of line in this case. In most of the exchange, Johnny's responses seemed more professional.

Lastly, I'm bothered that the manager (small m) in OK did not know who to properly contact about the status of his city's website when it did not show the content he expected to see. No doubt, his first communication should have been to the administrator of those server(s), hands down. Sans that, combined with his technical ignorance, it was going to get tougher anyway you slice it, right ?. At root, could we not say, his ignorance and inability to keep his composure started this whole situation (isn't that how many conflicts begin) ?. Professionals (and _good_ managers) keep their cool, always, even under even the most stressful of situations, at least that's the experience in my humble work life (23 yrs).