From: duggan@cc.gatech.edu (Rick Duggan)
Subject: Re: Advice Needed : How to contain a net defamation campaign ?
Organization: College of Computing
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 23:25:12 GMT

In article <92204.050230U53644@uicvm.uic.edu> <U53644@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
>I beg the indulgence of the reader, I know that this is irregular, however....
>
>    I have found myself in an odd situation, and I'm not sure how to deal with
>it. A short time ago, I had posted a series of articles in the new group
>sci.research.careers. A certain Mr. Toreki took exception to them, and
>responded by attributing comments to me that I never made, and which would cast
>me in a rather damaging light.
>
>For example : That I had said that most professors in grad school were tyrants,
>              That graduate school was an Orwellian experience,
>              That one should never be willing to work for a business,
>              That one couldn't possibly get a job no matter what, so why
>                  bother
>
>All of which is almost the opposite of what I had actually said. Now, I
>immediately started getting volumes of fairly obscene hate mail, and found that
>I was being given a reputation that would be, to say the least, one that
>would not be helpful in my future career. Repeated urgings to the people in
>that group to read the posts before commenting on them, and the truthful
>statement that I was being credited with statements that I hadn't made seemed
>to have no impact. The same rumors were being passed on. The attitude was even

I would not normally intrude on these newsgroups, but Mr. Dunphy is
(as you may have guessed) not telling the complete story here.
At one point in his postings to sci.research.careers, he stated something
to the effect that telling half the truth is equivalent to lying.  And 
here he is conveniently leaving out parts of the story.

Your repeated urgings consisted of urgings plus calling those
you disagreed with (and I quote) ``bloody stupid'', ``not playing
with a full deck of cards'', ``an idiot'', and ``an imbecile''.
That did more to discredit you with many of the sci.research.careers
people than anything else.  Your personal opinions were (and
are) more than welcome.  However, a bit of net courtesy would
be appreciated.  I will not ignore the point you make about obscene
e-mail.  As I have stated, there is no need for that, and it
is extremely inappropriate.  However, calling everyone who sends
(or thinks about sending) you email that *merely disagrees
with your position* an ``e-dweeb'' does not endear one to the net.

>expressed that whether or not I was being misquoted was irrelevant !
>
>The question is : How do I put a stop to this sort of thing ?

You put a stop to this sort of thing by not personally insulting
everyone with whom you disagree.  You put a stop to this sort
of thing by learning something about the net before you post.
You put a stop to this sort of thing by proving your point
with facts, not by repeating yourself 5 times.

>
>            Having interests in research, and working in preperation for
>            private sector work as I am (Math/EE), and partially supporting
>            myself with consulting work as I do, I really don't need to have
>            this kind of rumor spread.

Rumor?  I have multiple postings of you calling people names.  There
is no rumor in that (unless the postings were forged, which I don't
believe to be the case).

-rick

"Random acts of violence just don't do it for me anymore.  It must be
 maturity." - Cactus Jack WCW Saturday Night 07/04/92
Rick Duggan | duggan@cc.gatech.edu | CS1410 TA - Section A
Office Hours (CC 103): Tue 1:30-3:00 Thu 1:30-2:30