🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Added.0YR3Iau00Ui38AFE8d@andrew.cmu.edu> GD.WHY@STANFORD.BITNET
("Bill Yundt") writes:
>Any supplier who threatens
>effective communication within the market they serve
>risks exposure and condemnation within that market....a
>fate far worse than dealing with criticism ....like an
>adult.

I agree completely!  Companies must learn to accept reasoned criticism
"like adults" if they want to improve themselves and to be taken
seriously.  If they respond to criticism with threats and bullying
instead, they risk a public relations fiasco when their Mafiosi tactics
are exposed.

Unfortunately, sometimes people find themselves in positions which do
not allow this exposure.  Those people with "real jobs" are at the
mercy of their managers; those of us who work on a contracting basis
have to respect the commercial interests of our clients.  Further, the
whistleblower effect is real and dangerous, and will dissuade many
people from exposing those who threaten them.  As a whistleblower
myself, I know that the economic effects can be serious.

I would like nothing more than to expose the people who have threatened
me, but it simply is not possible, because more interests than mine are
at stake -- unless, of course, the thugs deliver on the threat, in
which case nothing will be lost by a full public recounting of the
affair.

>Let us risk the wrath of the lawyers.....my
>lawyers are better than their lawyers anyway!!
>
>....from one who has been sued for slander and survived.
>
>Bill Yundt

It's not quite so easy for a small independent contractor to laugh off
legal threats from a multimillion dollar company, I'm afraid.  In this
country, being vindicated in a lawsuit can destroy you financially.

In summary, an idealistic view does indeed find that increased
awareness of the networks as commercially important would be good for
everyone.  However, pragmatic consideration finds the opposite -- that
bullying and gangsterism will not simply evaporate just because it
should, that increased awareness of the networks can only lead to more
childish threats from offended companies, and that many of these
threats will be effective in suppressing criticism.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Consultant, Eclectic Software, sun!hoptoad!tim
"What's bad? What's the use of turning?
 In Hell I'll be there a-burning!
 Meanwhile, think of what I'm earning!
 All on account of my name." - Bill Sykes, "Oliver"