[aclug-L] Re: I am a smeghead (Letter of apology)

["James G." <jamesga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am all for opinions, but then again you have to remind yourself sometimes
that there may be up to 200 people on the mailing list reading all that is
said. It's one thing to make fun of the company you work for sometimes....
, it's another to take out a full page ad in the Wichita Eagle and tell the
whole world the same exact stuff.

What you said wasn't all that bad, just how you said it. It's not a bad
opinion to think that in ways ACLUG lacks a little attention to beginners.
Some people think this, some not. It's not against the law to think this.
We still don't have mind police in America, at least not yet.

Some good came from what you did. It gave a lot of people something to
comment on which might have went un-discused if you didn't do what you did.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The reaction was
huge, and was not all negative.

As to mimicking other peoples opinion and not being genuine, that's tough.
Almost everyone suffers from that. In fact, the story of the "Emperors New
Clothes" is one of my favorites because even though it's a simple story,
there is a ton of truth in it (in our case, Bill Gates is the naked
Emperor).

So you see.... when I write something here, I try to imagine 200 people
listening. Sometimes I mess up and get criticized for something I wrote
after an alternate meaning is attached by someone else (which I did not
originally intend for to happen). It happens to everyone it seems.
Sometimes it's better just to shut up unless you really believe strongly in
what you're saying and are willing to get dumped on later for it.

Perhaps it would be better (and more sincere) to explain what it is you're
sorry about. Are you sorry because you think more should be done for Linux
newbies, or sorry because of something else you did or said.

I am sort of stretching this out a little because I believe only I would
put it in these words. So "I did what I thought" was best.

James G.

P.S. One thing that came about out of all this was a discussion on having a
large Linux Fair for Wichita. In a way, I think this might be better than
having a beginners night because it would raise the awareness about Linux
in Wichita and be a way for business people to exchange business cards with
each other. It would be a way to get people to help each other without
taxing the limited amount of ACLUG resources.  We could have our cake and
eat it too.


"Patrick R. Klee" wrote:

> Dear ACLUG membrers,
>     I Patrick Klee, admit major stupidity on the fact that I was going
> on other peoples opinions and wasn't seeing the whole picture.  I am
> WHOLLY SORRY, and a smeghead.  You guys are handsome and good looking,
> I am hideously deformed and sound like a woman.  Anyway, I apologize
> again for all trouble caused, and feel after a long hiatus, I would like
> to know if I am still welcome into the group.  I am a smeghead.
>
> Sincerely
> Smeghead.
>
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