Oberon Image Warning

[Wm E. Davidsen Jr]

I tried to post a followup a week ago, but I don't think it went out...

A number of people have sent mail to postmaster at sixhub.uucp to complain
about the posting of Hugh Moore. After looking at what he said, the only
fault I find with it is that he posted it to the wrong group, and he
could have been more polite about it. Had he known the whole truth he
probably would have been even more emphatic.

  The "oberonm" posting was originally sent to comp.compilers, where it
certainly doesn't belong. The moderator told the submitter about c.b.i.p
and dropped me a note. I then got a copy in my personal mailbox rather
than the submission address, as a self unpacking archive, uuencode using
blanks, with all trailing blanks missing.

  I asked the person to resubmit to the correct address, in an archive,
using a decent uuencode. I included an example of using 'tr' in UNIX to
correct for a broken encode. I scrapped the first submission. I then
got back, at the submission address, another copy of the self unpacking
archive, uuencode with the same broken archiver, with trailing blanks
deleted. I told the submitter I would put it on the "slush pile" and
send it to a reviewer who might be able to extract it.

  It next showed up in alt.sources, not as source, as self unpacking
archive, uuencoded using blanks, with trailing blanks deleted. Sound
familiar? After a few postings about the archive being undecodable
(because of trailing blanks) it showed up in alt.sources again, with all
the same defects.

  You may believe that if I had time to write a flame, you would have
seen one which would melt the phosphor off the screen. I don't, so I
didn't. This submitter (I never got a name, I know not male or female)
is totally ignoring the people who are trying to provide the help
requested in getting the posting out.

To the people who want Hugh off the net:

  don't hold your breath, especially those who flamed him for posting
non-source to alt.sources by posting (you guessed it) non-source in
alt.sources. You have told him about that, and he either will or won't
mend his ways. His post was not illegal, obscene, or unprovoked.

To the people who ask why I'm holding the submission to c.b.i.p:

  I unpack these self unpacking archives like a live bomb, on a system
with a hard disk which is low level formatted before and after the
unpack so I can check every sector on the disk for change. There must be
a reason why this person likes the format, but I won't compromise
c.b.i.p readers to please someone who won't do something to help me. 

  Of course before this one gets unpacked it has to have trailing blanks
put back, one at a time, by hand, with an editor.

  And if the submitter is telling people I "refused to post it," a
phrase which has been in a few notes, it isn't because I have anything
against the submitter, it's because the submission is mangled, the
submitter is uncooperative, and I'm wasting time reading mail from
people who are ruder to me (who posted nothing) than Hugh ever was.

  Now could we use the bandwidth to discuss sources here, instead of
postings and repostings of non-source material?
-- 
bill davidsen - davidsen at sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen)
    sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
    moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me