🚀 go-pugleaf

I, for one, was very impressed and appreciative of John Pershing's
(PERSHNG at YKTVMH) response to the list's questions about LU6.2.
Of the few lists I watch, with the exception of the IBMTCP-L list, it
is unusual for IBMers to participate (or be permitted to participate)
in BITNET or Internet mailing lists.

There are many reasons this is so.  For example, as far as I know, only
IBM Research (Yorktown, et al.) has nodes directly on BITNET.  Even fewer
IBM sites have direct access to the Internet (a couple of SID [used to be
FSD - Federal Systems Division, now Systems Integration Division] machines
in Gaithersburg, MD, and the IBM Internet gateway machine at IBM Research
in Almaden [IBM.COM]).  Random IBMers must justify access to the Internet
(registration on IBM.COM).  Many are unaware of the mailing lists that
discuss products they're involved with.

When an IBMer makes an effort to contructively participate in an outside
IBM mailing list (i.e. not just read a shadow copy within IBM), I have to
applaud: Thankyou, Mr. John A. Pershing, Jr. of IBM Research, Yorktown Heights.


On the other hand, the fastest way to get an IBMer (or anyone, for that matter)
to cease to participate in a mailing list, to prevent other IBMers from
participating (remember, some of these mailing lists ARE redistributed within
IBM, and it is likely that they are read by managers as well as "workers"),
or to give IBM the impression that we list-readers don't appreciate their
input is to slam that IBMer upside his/her head.

An example of this is the message that Mr. David Fenstemaker of Silicon
Graphics (sgi!davidf or davidf@sgi.com) posted on this list complaining
about how Mr. Pershing was "a pretty knowledgable guy. Especially bright
was the way you posted the LU6.2 information without giving away your mail
location on the net."  Personally, I had no trouble finding Mr. Pershing's
address in the mail header.

I wouldn't appreciate being the recipient of a snide remark such as that.
Would you?  (No reply necessary.)  Could we please try to keep this stuff
out of the list(s)?


                    Just one man's opinion,

                    Ray Bloom
                    Intermetrics, Inc.
                    Cambridge, MA