[11303] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Please release me!!!!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Rose Marie Holt)
Mon Mar 28 18:48:22 1994
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 1994 08:35:43 -0800 (PST)
From: Rose Marie Holt <rmholt@u.washington.edu>
To: Hans-Werner Braun <hwb@upeksa.sdsc.edu>
Cc: Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com>, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9403272259.AA03660@upeksa.sdsc.edu>
Hans-Werner makes an excellent point. One of the credos of correctly
doing volunteer work is that you treat it like a real job, and do your
best to discover and execute the responsibilities it entails. The
payback is that you get nonmonetary rewards, in heaven, on your resume,
in networking in the area of your work, etc. If someone who has had poor
service on this list finds the manager in his office applying for a job -
-well, that's the most blatant potential problem I could think of at 0800.
PS, I am also on the list of the wannabe unsubscribed. I subscribed,
unsubscribed, and resubscribed over the course of a week last year, and
it went smoothly. Perhaps the manager is on vacation.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Rose Marie Holt Kibo number 1
rmholt@u.washington.edu
Will Read Xrays For Food
______________________________________________________________________________
On Sun, 27 Mar 1994, Hans-Werner Braun wrote:
> Barry:
>
> I symphasize with your view, and it is very well taken in general.
> However, nobody had asked PSI to provide the service, they rather
> volunteered. In fact, my recollection is that it was rather self
> serving for them to set it up back then. They even keep the membership
> secret (can't do EXPN), remember?
>
> Anyway. Say, hypothetically, in some small underfunded town I am
> volunteeing to be firefighter. Other people in that town would be happy
> to see someone care so much. They start depending on the volunteers,
> whether they are paid for or not. Now a fire starts out and I say "I
> just wanted to be volunteer firefighter, I have no interest getting my
> tailfeathers burned in a real fire, though." You'd say that's fair
> game and level playing field, I guess?
>
> Of course, managing mailing lists, anonymous FTP servers, WWW servers,
> and all that good stuff is real work and should not be perceived as a
> spare time effort. People should just not pretend they will provide a
> service and raise expectations unless they are prepared to follow
> through on it. Even if they are not liable, its still bad for their
> nerves and reputation. Most "users" on "the net" don't know what and
> who is paid and how anyway. For them the perceived freeness in goods
> is hidden. May be mailing lists should insert a disclaimer in the mail
> headers, like "this electronic marvel is brought to do out of the
> volunteered pure goodness of the hearts of all of the PSI staff;
> however, as nobody is paying for it, we may choose to do with it
> whatever we please, including abandoning the service."
>
> Hans-Werner
>
