Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 3 May 2000 18:22:22 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Jeremy Shaffner <jer@jorsm.com>
To:        Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
Cc:        freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD and IRC
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0005031648420.86077-100000@mercury.jorsm.com>
In-Reply-To: <20000503221042.A550@physics.iisc.ernet.in>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

On Wed, 3 May 2000, Rahul Siddharthan wrote:

> 
> FWIW: I've never seen this sort of attitude in the linux world.  Sure,

Then you haven't looked very hard.  It's not about Linux vs FreeBSD, and
it's not about communties.  People are People.  Good and Bad people use
computers, and yes, some of them use Linux and FreeBSD.

 > there are the flamers on Slashdot and so on, but they are mostly kids
> who have no clue and have never actually contributed to linux in the
> first place.  And even they don't often flame "clueless newbies", only
> windows lovers and people like that.  The big difference here is that
> some of the most obnoxious-sounding people on this thread are listed
> as core members, developers and so on.  Hearing such opinions from JKH
> is like hearing them from Linus Torvalds or Alan Cox, not from some
> anonymous troller.  The knowledgeable Linux people never try to
> alienate the user community in this way. 
>
> Which is exactly why the whole topic *does* belong on advocacy.  Much
> of the linux users' loyalty to their system is because of the pleasant
> experience they get from the "community".  Whereas a lurker on this
> list reading this thread would come away with a very bad impression.  

I don't use FreeBSD because it makes me feel pretty.  It does what it does
very well, and a few assholes on IRC doesn't change that for me.

Aside from that..I have a respect for the ways of IRC.  Channel content
and rules are decided by those who operate it, and in turn, by the server
operators.  "Op Abuse" is hard to prove.  If it's normal (for that
channel) to kickban people at the slightest provocation, then it's not
abuse.  Any complaints regarding IRC should be taken up with the channel
manager (if it's registered with that network's channel service) or with
an IRC Operator, who will behave much the same way...because they can.

So it's a little much to expect the Project to police IRC.  It's better to
ask people to police themselves.  And that's what it comes down to.  I
believe it's up to individual users to be advocates, not so much the
project.  It's also unfair to hold Jordan or any other prominant Project
member responsible for the same reason.  That's what he tried to point
out.  The Project is in no way responsible for IRC.  

I suggest getting Dan Langille's (FreeBSDDiary, JunkMale on Undernet)
presentation from FreeBSDCon '99 titled "Advocacy: How one person can make
a difference."  (The bad thing about that title is it works both ways.)

And Read Jim Mock's March FreeBSDZine Editorial at
http://www.freebsdzine.org/200003/advocacy.php3.

-Lazarus, Undernet #FreeBSD

ps. Everyone's invited to Undernet btw...though I've been called an
asshole before..I prefer to think of it as Tough Love.

---
Jeremy Shaffner
System Administrator
JORSM Internet
jer@jorsm.com
http://www.jorsm.com/~jer/pgp.key



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.21.0005031648420.86077-100000>