From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Willie Dee and writing letters. (was Re: >>An example of Dell's) 
Organization: Texas Instruments, Inc
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 17:25:00 GMT

In article <qhmmtpd@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
>davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) writes:
>
>
>[me]
>
>>| >Finally I've been sitting for a couple of months on an invitation to write
>>| >a guest editorial on customer service in another magazine.  I plan to 
>>| >contrast good and bad support.  Every time I thought I had the worst
>>| >possible example of customer support, something else has come up to
>>| >superceed it.  Unless I see something from Dell to refute what Donn 
>>| >has said here, I think I've found my bad example.
>>| 
>>| Gee, how interesting.  You want to bash a company for bad support
>>| without having any experience at all with their support organization.
>>| Which magazine is asking you to write for them?  I think I want to
>>| write them a letter and suggest that they get someone else to write
>>| that article, because you can't seem to get past your personal
>>| relationships and biases.
>
>>  I think that when/if that article comes out someone should post the
>>publisher's address on the net so we can all write a letter expressing
>>our views on John De Armond's objectivity.
>
>I'll save you the effort.  Here it is.
>
>Midnight Engineering
>Bill Gates, Publisher
>111 E. Drake Road, Suite 7041
>Ft. Collins, CO  80525
>
>303 225 1410
>303 225 1075 (fax)
>
>( To everyone else other than Bill and his buddy above, ME is a really
>whippy little magazine, combining small business and technical
>information in one package.  If you're thinking about developing
>a product or starting a business, the magazine is a must. )

Sorry to disappoint you, but other than one note from Bill offering me
some advice (which I had solicited the net for) on the purchase of my
next system, I don't even know him.  Also, I think that closing
paragraph probably comes damned close to commercial use of the net,
since you obviously have a stake in the magazine (writing for it and
all). 

>
>When you write your letter, be sure to note that you are nothing more
>than a nosy bystander who knows nothing about the case other than
>what you've read in this group.  I, on the other hand, DO know the details 
>of the case because I've been involved with Stan practically from
>the beginning.
>
>I never claimed to be objective.  Every article I write is an
>expression of my opinion on the topic. If you have a different
>opinion, write an article of your own. If you can express
>yourself, can spell and make generally complete sentences, Bill
>might publish it.  Based on my track record of writing for the
>magazine over the last couple of years, your letter or article -
>if it got published at all - would be judged against that
>record.  Why am I not worried?  

Well, then, since you make no effort at all to be objective, I guess
you're the kind of 'journalist' that gives the profession such a bad
name.  And here I've always been under the impression that GOOD
journalists tried to be objective and get all the facts first.  Of
course, that could very well still be the case.  Of course, in that
case we have to not include you in the genre of 'good journalist'.

>
>This Dell incident will make an excellent case study.  Whether said study
>shows a company which agressively attacks a problem and solves it or
>whether the company plays ostrich at the first sign of controversy is 
>still up in the air, though the events of the last 24 hours give me hope.
>I'm writing my article right now so do hurry.

Absolute evidence on just what kind of 'journalist' you are.  You
really DO think you're Jerry Pournelle, don't you?  Well, John, I
don't know how Dell feels about this (although I certainly hope they
reconsider the decision to be less forthcoming on the net that folks
like you [afraid descriptive terms simply failed me, there] have
forced them into, but as far as I'm concerned, you can take your
'article' and, well, . . . be very careful not to get papercuts when
you do it, anyway.

A perfect model for the technical journalist -- literary blackmail
attempts to go with his buddy's net.blackmail attempts.  Hey, at least
Stan recognized that he blew it.  You, on the other hand, still seem
to be clueless.

What a luser.

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
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