[4794] in Depressing_Thoughts
On being cast out of the MIT virtual community
rnewman@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (rnewman@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sat Jun 17 22:30:00 1995
Late in the morning of Wednesday, June 14 I logged into my Athena account
only to recieve a "lert" message:
ACCOUNT DEACTIVATION NOTICE! PLEASE READ!
Your Athena account is currently scheduled for deactivation on Monday,
June 26, 1995. If you are currently employed by MIT or are working with an
MIT Faculty or Staff member on a project that requires the use of Athena,
please contact User Accounts immediately by calling 253-1325, sending mail
to accounts@mit.edu, or stopping by 11-124G between 2 pm and 5 pm Monday
through Friday.
My pleas to User Accounts to delay this action for a couple of
months have so far fallen on deaf ears. I'm trying to find a way to
avert this action, but I don't currently have a great expectation of
success.
I've been associated with MIT on and off for the last 20 years:
student from 1975-79, Athena staff member from 1984-88, Media Lab
staff member for most of 1994. I feel that MIT is part of my informal
network and that I am a member of the extended MIT community. Many of
you reading this know me from e-mail, Usenet, and zephyr even if you
have never met me face-to-face.
Now I feel like I am being cast out of the community suddenly, on
10 days notice. This hurts. While I could easily get a commercial
account, it would not fully replace the sense of close interchange with
MIT that I feel when I log in here -- the participation in zephyr and
discuss meetings, the ability to look in on projects still in
development by SIPB and others, the general feeling of being In Touch
With MIT.
This hurts.
