[47813] in Hotline Meeting
A letter to Lou
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karen Veroy)
Thu Jun 24 16:48:02 1999
Message-Id: <199906242047.QAA29841@w20-575-120>
To: hotline@MIT.EDU
Cc: dreyer@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 16:47:59 EDT
From: Karen Veroy <kplveroy@MIT.EDU>
Since you were so kind enough to come over here and explain why you logged me
out two nights ago, I decided not to point out several things.
But since you came up to me today and insisted that I left my
workstation locked up for 9 hours yesterday, I thought I had better
put a stop to this.
Let me then point out several things to you.
First, about Tuesday: You said last Tuesday that several people came up to you
and complained that none of the Ultra 10s were available and they wanted to use
the ultra 10s.
1) I was here the WHOLE day Tuesday. Not once were all the
Ultra 10s in use. You know why? Because the ultra 10s were moved monday
afternoon, and not a lot of people knew where they were yet.
2) When i got back here that night, NONE OF THE ULTRA 10's were in
use. NONE. ZERO. Anyone who would be picky enough to insist on
using an ultra 10 must have been planning on doing a job serious
enough to warrant the use of a faster machine. They would not have
been planning on just checking mail, nor would they have been planning
on just using netscape. They would have been programming, or
something like that. And if they were, then they would have been here
when I got back after my dinner. BUT THEY WEREN"T. THERE WAS NO ONE
HERE. The most crowded this ultra-10 section became was around the time you
got here. And even then, there were 2 or 3 workstations unused.
3) It has been my observation that most if not all students here in
MIT exhibit some level of respect for their colleagues' work. They
will NEVER insist on logging someone out if there are other
workstations free. What do they do then, when they want an Ultra 10
and only sparc 5's are available? They take the sparc 5 and tell
themselves to come earlier next time. Or they take a sparc 5 and
watch for someone to vacate their ultra 10. So with all due respect,
sir, I seriously doubt your story that students came up to you and
asked you to log me out because they wanted an ultra 10.
Second, about yesterday: You insist that i 'locked' my workstation
yesterday.
1) I did not lock my workstation at any time yesterday.
Why not? because I was still rather frustrated that someone would log
me out even though i explicitly stated that i had a calculation
running. So my conclusion, just don't lock your workstation. That
way they can SEE that I had a calculation running. They can activate
my screen and SEE PROOF that I had a calculation running.
2) I could not have left my system idle for 9 hours. If you insist I did,
meaning you are implying that I am lying, just let me know and I will give you
the name of a student who was here with me the whole day yesterday in the athena
cluster, WORKING. Now if i understand even just a tiny bit about how these
things work, idle means I did not do anything at all with my system. Now if i
am to believe my fellow student in that I was here the whole day, and if i am to
believe you that my system was idle for 9 hours, then what did i do the whole
day? STARE AT THE SCREEN?
3) Let us then take it for granted that I did not lock it at any time,
but that perhaps I left my workstation unattended. Let us also take
for granted that, as you claimed, my station said that it has been idle for
9 hours. How then could you have possibly found out how long my
station was idle? You would have had to re-activate my screen and see
how long i've been gone. Now if this were true, then this whole thing
would be truly wierd. Because that means that you would have had to
have read and inspected all the windows that I usually have open to
find the xterm window and find out how long i've been gone. Which
means that you didn't just do your duty and logged me out. You had to
type stuff into my account. Now wouldn't that be a violation of my
privacy? I really doubt if you would do that.
So my conclusion is: No one asked you to log me out wednesday. And no, my
station could not have been idle for 9 hours yesterday.
Now, there would be no point to my complaining to anyone about your
act of logging me out when I had a note saying i had a calculation
running, when my things were on the table, when there were so many
other workstations free. Why? Because my workstation was locked for
more than 20 minutes (1 hour). Because technically, you HAD THE RIGHT
TO DO SO. The ATHENA Rules of Use clearly state that you can log
someone out when they locked their workstation for more than 20
minutes.
So yes, YOU HAD EVERY RIGHT TO DO SO. GRANTED. GIVEN. I CONCEDE TO
THE FACT. But you were NOT right to have done that. Sir, I have the
right to go tell my own mother that I hate her. "Freedom of speech" is
what America always says. The right to say what I want to say. But I
wouldn't do it even if I HAD the right to do it. Because it just
isn't true, and it just isn't right.
Sincerely,
Karen Veroy
