In defense of Tony Duell, was Re: eBay idiocy

Rumor has it that Tony Duell may have mentioned these words: [snippage] Then you might not like some of my response... because there's a big but to follow. (I didn't say *my* big butt... but you'll see... ;-) [[ Notice the winkies... ;-) ]] Tony: I do view you as a very valuable member of this list - always have - and as I've been here *dang near* as long as you were (we were _both_ in the top 10, as was Sellam, let's not forget) I've known you thru email for a goodly long time... a decade now? You're knowledge of electronics and older computer systems is IMHO unmatched, and you have a way of thinking through problems & troubleshooting that is possessed by maybe a handful of people in the field. It would be a shame if you left this list, the loss of your presence here to everyone (including me) would be immeasurable. Agree with me or not, but IMHO, the loss of Sellam as a regular member of this community was _equally_ devastating; and I certainly wouldn't want another of the few "charter members" (for wont of a better term) to leave. But: [[ Here's that big but I was talking about... ]] Your personal preference for only using computers you can rebuild for the next 100 years is so pervasive that quite often it colors your posts and advice to the point that it can seem quite condescending. To be perfectly honest, I've been offended (indirectly) on more than a few occasions by the... vitriol... that you may or may not even know is present in many of your posts WRT either 1) computers that can't be troubleshot at the gate level, or 2) people who cannot troubleshoot computers at the gate level. Believe it or not, Sellam was the first individual I'd ever killfiled. Thankfully, I later learned to see past his sometimes maddening ways ;-), and consider him a good friend now. Honestly, however, once or twice I'd debated with myself (It wasn't an intelligent conversation ;-) if I should make you #2. I'm certainly glad I didn't. Tony, you should know as well as anybody how much good Sellam has done for this community; even though he's not active now certainly doesn't negate his previous contributions, does it? That said, this post isn't supposed to be, or *meant* to be a "ball-buster." If it were, I'm sure there'd be a line a mile long to start busting mine; I'm certainly far from perfect. But neither are you... and neither is Sellam. His prolific utilization of profanity was unjustified, but many of his points were valid. The perceived degradation of my character by your posts in the past had stung, but the advice within was always dead-on. I've learned to live with both, as I should as most people here have learned to live with my idiosyncrasies. Long story short (Too late! ;-) it's called "getting along with each other." If that can't happen (and sometimes it can't), personally I'd be happy with [at least relatively] "peaceful co-existence." ;-) So Jay, did I win that 2-week boot? ;-) Laterz, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger | "Profile, don't speculate." SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers | Daniel J. Bernstein zmerch at 30below.com |