Original_To:  BITNET%"WORDS-L@UGA.BITNET"
Original_cc:  WHITERJ
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
Date:         Tue, 7 Apr 1992 23:22:00 MDT
 <WORDS-L%UGA.bitnet@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>
From:         The Ronin <WHITERJ%MSCD.BITNET@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>
Subject: Re: Hello???

Bitcheth      "Aaron Dickey, The Happy Spore" <AXD7104@NYUACF.BITNET>

>a) A vague bit of help is better than none at all.  I didn't know that someone
>of your Oracle-like Wisdom would be around to reply.  If I had known, I would
>never have stooped so low as to try to help someone.

     If one subscribes to the first sentence, the rest may follow.  I
fail to see how anything Frank said implied that Aaron was 'stooping so
low' as Aaron put it.

>b) The term 'sys.nazis' is common amongst us young arrogant hooligans who take
>valuable CPU time away from the important users such as yourself.  The term is
>about as serious as calling someone a 'nerd,' if that.  To some, it is
>actually a term of endearment.  Perhaps you find it to be politically
>incorrect.  If so, I can't help that.

     The ability to recognize that phrases have different meanings in
different situations is something that adults learn.  Maybe Aaron will
get the opportunity some time.  Paragraph 'b)' reads strictly as a
diatribe with no logical flow or reference (except the term
'sys.nazis') to Frank's posting that I could see.  In WORDS-L,
sys.nazis is a non-trivial insult.

     Describing himself as arrogant may be appropriate.  It doesn't
mean cocky, it means that one has a higher opinion of oneself than
is justified.  Time will tell, as there isn't enough data yet from
which to draw a conclusion.  Be nice if Aaron was wrong about himself,
though.

>c) I was using the term as a GENERALIZATION.  It was not in reference to any
>PARTICULAR person or any PARTICULAR group of administrators at any one site.
>However, I do know one sysadmin at one certain site. You might be surprised at
>the drawing on the wall of his office of a himself hacking away while wearing
>an SS uniform.

     Funny, it read as a generalization of *all* sys admins to me.  I
thought it was rather presumptuous of Aaron.

>d) Rude bastard? I'l leave that up to everyone who read my original message
>and your reply to make the decision as to which message is ruder.

     Frank may not have been the milk of human kindness at the start,
but overall I found the tone of his message far more enjoyable.

[deleted quote from Frank's explanation]
>If said 'quirk' isn't something that requires an administrator to perform
>maintenance on a regular basis, then I don't know what is.  Thank you for
>confirming my original theory.

     Frank didn't say regular, Aaron did.  I am not aware of any major
(>100,000 lines) software effort that doesn't have problems that
occassionally require the assistance of trained personnel.  Except
Aaron's, of course.

>Good! I'm glad that you regularly check it.  I've been on systems where
>the admins DON'T!  I said it "depends on whether" they do or not.

     I have been a systems manager.  There is a whole lot of piddling
stuff that wrecks havoc with getting anything else done.  I am glad to
see that friend Aaron has solved this problem.  Perhaps he can
enlighten us with his experience.

>> Perhaps we should seek to understand the problem before insulting
>> strangers.

>I agree.  However, I wasn't insulting you.  But you're a stranger to
>me, and I'm obviously pretty enraged over your reply.  Next time you've got
>a problem with a posting of mine, email me privately and we'll straighten it
>out.  It will also keep me from having to post responses like the above to
>the list.

     This in part goes back to the issue of how to take 'sys.nazis'.
I was mildly offended by its usage and I am not currently doing
systems work, nor have I ever attained Frank's level of wizardry.  I
find it interesting that Frank's 'rudeness' was the minority of his
message (the rest being an explanation of how the system in question
worked), while Aaron's response was almost all invective, much of it
lashing out at things Frank didn't say.

     One other thing, Aaron.  If Frank should have posted to you
personally instead of the list because you pressed one of his buttons,
why were you any better by posting to the list when he pressed yours?
NO ONE MADE YOU DO ANYTHING.  You did it all of your own free will.

The Ronin
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