From: barrett@gleep.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Marc Barrett: an Amiga pioneer (was Re: More AmigaWorld Lies)
Date: 8 Sep 92 02:39:56 GMT
Reply-To: barrett@gleep.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Organization: BLAZEMONGER INCORPORATED

In article <1992Sep8.003808.6875@news.iastate.edu> barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett) writes:
[posted in c.s.a.misc]
> What I want is a better Amiga.  I can more honestly call myself an Amiga
>pioneer than 90% of the people who flame me for my messages.  I got my first
>Amiga in March of 1986, only a few months after it started hitting the
>streets.  There are probably plenty of people at Commodore who ahve not been
>using Amigas as long as I have.

	Marc, if you are an "Amiga pioneer", then it is only for being the
first person to flame Commodore nonstop for four years.

	I remember the first time Marc arrived in the comp.sys.amiga
groups.  He was but a mere whiner back then.  In the space of a week, he
posted about a dozen articles flaming the Amiga's graphics capabilities.  At
least 3-4 of them appeared in rapid succession all on the same day.  They
all said essentially the same thing, but with the words rearranged.

	This had an immediate effect on USENET:  half of comp.sys.amiga put
"barrett@iastate" in their kill files.  Some people responded to Marc's
allegations, but... he simply didn't answer them!  I guess their opinions
weren't important.  Instead, he posted more articles.

	This was just the beginning of Marc's reign of misinformation.
I have lost count of how many times Marc has posted false information
and never "backed down" from it.  Here are a few I remember:

	o	"The Atari Lynx was based on the Amiga chipset."
		(Totally false.)

	o	Flames against the AmigaOS 2.0 NotePad.  (There is
		no such program.)

	o	Statements in one particular fiscal quarter that CBM's R&D
		had dropped when considered "as a percentage of sales."
		(Mr. Statistics neglected to realize that sales had RISEN.)

	o	Several dozen "Commodore is/isn't doing XXX" when in fact
		Marc has no special information.

	o	The solution for Commodore's CDROM problems is to pirate
		the CBM's software and give it to "cracker" groups.
		(Marc outdid himself on this one!)

	o	The statement that "I am not flaming the engineers -- I want
		to pressure Commodore management" when asked why he posts
		his flames.  (In fact, CBM management doesn't read USENET!)

	o	Despite the fact that Marc has never designed a graphics
		chipset, he was quite sure that there was "no reason"
		one could not be designed by a particular date.

	o	Despite the fact that Marc claimed to be a registered
		developer, nobody has reported even a single product Marc has
		created.  Hell, he's not even on the Fish Disks.  So much
		for credibility.

	o	Saying "Commodore is doomed" in 1988.  Gee... they're
		still around.

	o	Saying "Commodore is doomed" in 1989.  Gee... they're
		still around.

	o	Saying "Commodore is doomed" in 1990.  And so on.

	o	The general belief that what happens in Iowa mirrors
		the rest of the world.  "Well, I haven't seen any ads
		at Iowa State, so Commodore isn't blah blah blah...."

And of course, let's not forget Marc's famous "I wish Irving Gould were
dead" post.

	Also, when asked about his reasons for posting all this stuff,
Marc responded in c.s.a.advocacy:

[me]
>>...you continue to post
>>the same negative opinions time and time again.  So I ask:  why?  We've all
>>heard it by now.  Are you doing this for anybody else's benefit?  Are you
>>trying to turn off future Amiga buyers, or just letting off steam?
[marc]
>Mostly just letting off steam.
> I guess, in a nutshell, my messages are an attempt to induce realism on
>the discussions here, but I often go too far and post messages that are
>overwhlemingly negative and caustic.

There is more, if anyone's interested.  But the message is this:  Marc is
not posting this stuff for anybody else's benefit.

	At this point, we should all realize that Marc isn't going away.
Even if he sold his Amiga and Commodore went out of business, or if
Commodore suddenly improved 1000% and gave Marc a free 48-bit high-speed
graphics board, Marc will still complain.  He *lives* to complain.
And he doesn't see anything wrong with constant complaining.

	Occasionally, Marc makes a good point.  Even though there are
sometimes real issues addressed in his postings, he constantly exaggerates,
spreads falsehoods, and misunderstands things he has no background in.

	Oh wait... NOW I understand why Marc is an Amiga pioneer!
If it weren't for him, nobody would have proposed the creation of
comp.sys.amiga.advocacy.

                                                        Dan
							(no relation)

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| Dan Barrett -- Dept of Computer Science, Lederle Graduate Research Center |
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