CEB 5 - The Hangover

Cypherpunks' Electronic Book (CEB) part 5 - the hangover.

   Tim May writes on & on & on about my failure to write the CEB.
Hey, just where did I pick up GUILT? I had a really great idea for
Cypherpunks that I also felt was a glaring omission of Cypherpunks'.
I wrote up the idea as best as I could & tried to interest some com-
petent C'punk to do it. I thought I did a really good job of writing
up the idea. Unfortunately, I lack the skills to write the particular
code to do the idea. Its sort of like bringing home a rabbit for supper
& everybody dumps on you cause it wasn't a moose. What kind of guilt do
you dump on people who actually do bad things?
   Admittedly, implementing the idea is magnitudes more work that get-
ting the idea. However, it was a great idea & why should I suppress it
because I personally couldn't implement it? No doubt, great ideas fall
from Tim May like rain from the skies & he considers them cheap if not
nuisances. However, in most of the world, they are in short supply & are
considered valuable.
   I have discovered that the idea of bunches of creative, skilled
programmers with lots of time on their hands is a myth. I guess they
all manage to figure out something worth while to write. Originally, I
had thought that there would be at least one of them around looking
for something worthy to do.
   Myself, I am busy trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong in using
Turbo Debugger to examine the transient part of a TSR, debugging a new
version of my shareware program, & then I will be busy converting my
shareware program to a version that I can donate to the Cypherpunks.
And I have my regular 40 hour a week job. I don't have loads of spare
time for CEB either.
   I believe that I have described a very worthwhile project for anyone
who wants to do it. I have a lot of hope that someone will do it later.
I don't think its going to be forgotten. I would like to thank the
people who supported the idea. CEB doesn't look like it is going to
happen soon but if Cypherpunks grows, I think it is inevitable that it
will happen.
   As for Tim May's FAQ project, I have some suggestions. I've noticed
that since Majordomo was implemented we seem to have much fewer requests
to Cypherpunks to unsubscribe. This may just be an artifact of Major-
domo's having unsubscribed all the subscribers & only the determined
resubscribed. Or maybe people are using Majordomo to unsubscribe & to
subscribe. Anyway, if Majordomo could be slightly reprogrammed to
advertise your FAQ anytime a user used the default salutation to
Majordomo such as a blank file or whatever, it would help.
   By using Majordomo you could actually have lots of people aware of
your FAQ & using it rather than just having your accomplishment laying
around gathering dust. I would also suggest that Majordomo be programmed
to post its basic capabilities to the list at least every week so that
everybody would have the basic knowledge to explore the Cypherpunk FAQs
& know the basics that they are expected to know.
   But, Tim, if you decide you want this done - do it yourself. You
just have no idea how you get dumped on when you suggest others do
it for you! :-)

                                         Yours Truly,
                                         Gary Jeffers
                                     PUSH EM BACK! PUSH EM BACK!
                                     WWWAAAYYY  BBBAAACCCKK!
                                     BBBEEEAAATTTT  STATE !

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    Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 20:49:42 CDT
    From: "Gary Jeffers" <CCGARY@mizzou1.missouri.edu>
    Subject: CEB 5 - The Hangover
    
    Its sort of like bringing home a rabbit for supper & everybody
    dumps on you cause it wasn't a moose.

It looked more like someone saying "Hey!  Let's have rabbit for
dinner!  Now, you there, go kill us a rabbit.  And you, over there,
start a fire.  And you..."  I realize that you think that you brought
a rabbit home, but others seem to think that you only brought a menu.

Zeke

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Gary Jeffers apparently blames me for his dropping of the "Cypherpunks
Electronic Book" project:

>        Cypherpunks' Electronic Book (CEB) part 5 - the hangover.
> 
>    Tim May writes on & on & on about my failure to write the CEB.
> Hey, just where did I pick up GUILT? I had a really great idea for

I did not write "on and on" about this--go back and read what I wrote.

> Cypherpunks that I also felt was a glaring omission of Cypherpunks'.
> I wrote up the idea as best as I could & tried to interest some com-
> petent C'punk to do it. I thought I did a really good job of writing
> up the idea. Unfortunately, I lack the skills to write the particular
> code to do the idea. Its sort of like bringing home a rabbit for supper
> & everybody dumps on you cause it wasn't a moose. What kind of guilt do
> you dump on people who actually do bad things?

Flaky ranters like you and Hettinga are but the latest in a string of
ranters who wring their hands and cry "*Do* something@! I tried to be
polite in my comments, even saying "So, if the CEB enthusiasts want to
try this, I applaud them." 

In most of these cases, including Detweiler's similar wailings that no
one would create "alt.whistleblowers" for him, such politeness is
apparently unappreciated. Ranting is ever so much more fun, I guess.

(Hettinga's rants about "Garth and Wayne," broken windows, fleas on
his head, and "I'm not worthy" are just too strange for me to follow.
I sense a proto-Detweiler is forming in the great void.)

>    Admittedly, implementing the idea is magnitudes more work that get-
> ting the idea. However, it was a great idea & why should I suppress it
> because I personally couldn't implement it? No doubt, great ideas fall
> from Tim May like rain from the skies & he considers them cheap if not
> nuisances. However, in most of the world, they are in short supply & are
> considered valuable.

Nonsense. Like Detweiler's "electrocracy," this idea was just an old
notion in new clothes. In this case, the "stone soup" FAQ idea all
over again. 

I said it before, so I'll be brief: worrying about the details of
distribution instead of the writing is the big mistake. Distribution
is relatively trivial, whether by ftp at the soda site, distribution
by mail, whatever. 

>    I have discovered that the idea of bunches of creative, skilled
> programmers with lots of time on their hands is a myth. I guess they
> all manage to figure out something worth while to write. Originally, I
> had thought that there would be at least one of them around looking
> for something worthy to do.

If _you_ think it is worth, and _others_ think it is worthy, then
absolutely nothing is stopping you all from doing this project! Do you
think the comments of _me_ are enough to stop you? Jeesh.

What you seem to have done is to see my comments about such "stone
soup" let's-volunteer-the-others appraches and then just _given up_ in
a huff. Methinks you just have no staying power and were hoping the
Cyperpunks Masses would make your CEB project the centerpiece of their
efforts with little further work on your part. It just doesn't happen
that way.

>    I believe that I have described a very worthwhile project for anyone
> who wants to do it. I have a lot of hope that someone will do it later.
> I don't think its going to be forgotten. I would like to thank the
> people who supported the idea. CEB doesn't look like it is going to
> happen soon but if Cypherpunks grows, I think it is inevitable that it
> will happen.

It won't happen because nobody out there is going to do it, not
because your feelings got hurt. 

>    But, Tim, if you decide you want this done - do it yourself. You
> just have no idea how you get dumped on when you suggest others do
> it for you! :-)

More nonsense. Nonsense I am finished responding to. 


--Tim May


-- 
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