>One of the founders, Eeyore's Evil Twin <chuq@medraut.apple.com>, writes:
Just to keep things clear, I'm not a founder. It just seems like I've been
here forever. One of the first wave of settlers, but I'll let those that
deserve the credit take it.
>Obviously, I don't have the same viewpoint as you, but I think that
>just the fact that the early Usenet history has some not-so-much-fun
>periods doesn't make it any less a history.
Very true. good point.
>>I'm not asking you to regurgitate all those painful memories.
I'm not as worried about the painful memories as how they bias what I say.
Even something that I was (relatively) unininvolved in as the Grand Renaming
has a bunch of problems for me, because I'd proposed effectively the same
thing about 18 months earlier and been burned to a crisp. It was later taken
up again by Rick and Spaf to completion (Rick and Mark? I'm going senile.
sigh), and while it was nice to see it happen and to be a trailblazer
("ahead of his time" and all that stuff...), there's also a feeling on my
part that if people had just listened, we could have saved everyone an
amazing amount of pain.
I've got some areas of the net that have left me rather bitter, which is
something I'm slowly learning to deal with and put behind me. I feel real
hesitant about laying stuff out about those areas because I don't believe
it'll be fair or objective, or even necessarily accurate, either because of
internal self-editing or because I want to avoid discussing stuff I know
I'll regret once I work it out of my system. I don't want to go down as a
mean-spirited, bitchy, crotchety old phart, and there are days that's how I
feel.
>Perhaps
>record them somewhere with one of those do-not-open-until-I'm-dead kind
>of attachments, but at least allow the story to be told at some point.
As most (honest) folks on this list will concur, I've been dead more times
than any of us can count, and always come back. My tendency to wait until
things got too serious to deal with and then leav in a rather noisy way for
a visible exile was by far my worst on-line personality trait, and one that
took forever to deal with (it was also, probably, the onyl time I ever
agreed with Tim Maroney on anything, which would probably surprise the hell
out of him). Usenet doesn't need really intense leaders that flame out, but
people who can keep the monster in perspective and give it some stability by
example, and there are definitely times when I'm my own worst enemy. Or used
to be, I'm not sure yet...
I guess it comes down to being fascinated about reading a good history of
the last 15 years or so and being scared shitless about what's going to be
written about me...
I definitely know I wouldn't be particularly glowing about my performance
at times.
This page last updated on: Jul 1 09:16