Re: The incredibly slimy ethics of Robert Dewar

[Keith Thompson <kst@cts.com>]

Kent:

I have read your article.  My reading comprehension is just fine, as
is that of most other people who have been replying to you.

Yes, one should be careful about followups to cross-posted articles --
but if something is cross-posted inappropriately, it is IMHO mostly
the fault of the person who originated the cross-posting.  Not all
newsreaders warn adequately about cross-posted followups.  Most
articles here in comp.lang.ada are not cross-posted.  If you
cross-post an article to two mostly unrelated newsgroups, even if your
article is somehow appropriate to both, any followups almost certainly
will be appropriate only to one or the other.  You owe it to your
readers to explicitly warn them about the cross-posting and encourage
them to trim the newsgroups on any followups.  You can blame other
posters all you want -- after all, they *should* have checked the
newsgroups header -- but their mistake is nearly inevitable, and *you*
could have prevented it if you weren't distracted by your "decade long
battle".

If you really want to encourage people to follow the rules, you might
find setting a good example more effective than your current strategy.

Having read your e-mail correspondence with Robert Dewar, I conclude
that he's right and you're wrong.  Furthermore, your posting of that
correspondence, ignoring any ethical issues involved in posting
private e-mail, seems hypocritical.  As you know, this newsgroup is
called comp.lang.ada.  It is for discussion of the Ada programming
language, not the ethics of Robert Dewar.  Arguably my own posting
here is equally off-topic -- but then I'm not on "a decade long battle
with the mindless maggots who think group charters don't apply to
them".

This article is posted only to comp.lang.ada.  Followups are directed
to alt.dev.null.  If you really want to post a followup to
comp.lang.ada, I'm sure you know how.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst@cts.com  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center           <*>  <http://www.sdsc.edu/~kst>
Schroedinger does Shakespeare: "To be *and* not to be"