[4811] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: On being cast out of the MIT virtual community
???@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (???@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Mon Jul 24 21:34:07 1995
Here's a letter I sent to Cec and Greg Jackson a few weeks ago.
Haven't heard any reply yet....
Ron Newman
18 Day Street #310
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 628-8895
rnewman@cybercom.net
Cecelia D'Oliveira
Director, Distributed Computing & Network Services
MIT Room E40-319
Dear Cec,
I am writing you this letter today because I would like to remain a
member of MIT's virtual community. I have been part of this community
since November of 1984, when I joined Project Athena as a member of
the programming staff. Even after I left Athena in early 1988 to take
a job at Lotus, I have stayed informally in touch with the people
here. I've participated in on-line discussions, submitted bug
reports, and answered numerous users' questions on the Zephyr "help"
instance. I've also found Athena to be a good place for learning new
skills, such as perl and HTML; I've just now begun to learn Java and
hope to write some useful programs in the weeks to come.
My understanding has always been that MIT allowed me to continue using
Athena as a courtesy, in appreciation of the work I did on the X
Window System in Athena's early days. I know a number of other early
Athena employees who continue to have guest accounts on Athena for
similar reasons. I am glad that Athena does this, because it is a
good way to informally bind together a network of talented people who
otherwise might disperse and lose contact with each other.
However, two weeks ago, I logged into my Athena account and found a
"lert" notice informing me that my account would be deactivated on
Monday, June 26. When I visited the User Accounts office to inquire
about this, they told me they were purging over 1500 accounts
belonging to former MIT staff members. They included my account in
the deactivation because I worked at the Media Lab on a temporary
project between January 3 and December 15, 1994. My short-term return
to MIT caused my account to be reclassified from "guest" to "staff
member" status, and the User Accounts people were not willing to
return its status to "guest" after my Media Lab employment ended.
I have a number of friends who worked at Athena alongside me, and
their accounts remain active to this day, even though they no longer
have a formal staff or student affiliation with MIT. The only
difference between them and me is that they did not return to MIT for
a second term of employment, and therefore their accounts were not
reclassified from "guest" to "staff". Surely it is not in MIT's
interest to deter former Athena staff members from seeking short-term
re-employment at MIT for fear that their accounts will disappear after
their employment ends.
I have enjoyed participating in MIT's extended community through the
use of Athena, and hope to continue this participation in the months
and years to come. I ask that you re-evaluate the
account-deactivation policy and allow me to remain an active member of
your system. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Ron Newman '79
cc: Gregory Jackson, Manager of Academic Computing, MIT
