From: rich@grebyn.com (Richard Lawrence)
Subject: I need your help
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 07:37:59 GMT

I was dismayed to find the following message in my mailbox tonight
(names deleted to protect the innocent):

> [20 lines deleted]
> >If you have managment options on your Synoptics concentrators (you
> >didn't specify which ones you have) you can get diagnostic information
> >from the concentrator itself. It will tell you to the port level about
> >conditions such as late collisions. 
> >

Rich, your blatant plugs for Synoptics are working against you! And it's
clearly against net.etequitte. I think you should reconsider your approach.

My reply follows:
************************************************************************
I am amazed, and offended. What brings you to this conclusion? The
gentleman in question mentioned specifically in his original message
that he was using Synoptics equipment, and it is part of the design of
all manageable Synoptics devices that they will help you diagnose line
errors. The absolute quickest way to solve his problem that I know of is
to ask his concentrator (through management software) "which of my ports
is generating late collisions?"

If helping the person in question out by mentioning capabilities of the
product is in bad form, then I suppose I am guilty and will continue to
be. I would expect no less from a Chipcom or Cabletron employee, for
instance, answering questions involving their equipment. I have in
particular labored to *avoid* anything that could be construed a slur
against other products, by not answering posted questions about
reliability and features of competitors that I have been trained to sell
against.

I *clearly* mark all my messages with a .sig that indentifies me as a
Synoptics employee. On previous questions in multiple .lan groups, I
have recommended other manufacturers equipment without reservation when
they fit the bill better than Synoptics devices. I also will recommend
Synoptics equipment if I think it is applicable. Perhaps this qualifies
as a blatent plug. I will endeavor to discover if other readers think
so.
***********************************************************************

So, as per my statement above, I'm going to take the simple approach and
just ask if other people share this opinion. Was I wrong in my first
reply? Should put an additional disclaimer at the bottom of my messages,
something like "This guy is a Synotics employee and is plugging their
products"? (I'm not, at least not intentionally).

I'm not trying to proselytize people to the Synoptics Way. When I post
here, I do it on my own time from an account I pay for out of my pocket,
so I don't consider myself in any way to be serving an official
Synoptics duty. That's why I was sort of surprised by the senders
impression of me.

Please respond by e-mail, I don't want to waste bandwidth here. I am
interested in your feedback. I will post a (terse) summary later.
-- 
Rich Lawrence, Synoptics Systems Engineer  DOD#9630  rich@grebyn.com
     '92 Seca II "Yuri"  CI$:71101,2272  GEnie:R.LAWRENCE14
   216 years ago my government gave me certain inalienable rights.
     Since then, they've been trying to correct their mistake.
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet