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I'm ashamed of all the Larry-bashing that's been taking place.
If you've only interacted with the man online (which I believe is the case with
some of his harshest critics), you have no perspective on who he really is.
Hence, you're really not qualified to judge him. May be qualified to
CONSTRUCTIVELY criticize his online interactions, perhaps, but not to judge the
person. Period.
Larry has a thicker skin than anyone I know. He puts up with personal attacks to
the frequency and degree that would have caused me to stop giving back years
ago. What is Larry sticking around to do? Give back to the people who trash him
by his service to the community.
Now that takes character.
Personally, I've observed quite a few people recently (and throughout the last
few months) who definitely don't deserve Larry [1]. Why he sticks it out? I
don't know. Where's his ROI here? It's definitely not monetary, the "power" is
surely nothing to write home about, and the jobs he chooses to do in the
community are ever so thankless (been there, done all of it).
What I do know, though, is Larry does stick it out. And that's one of the
reasons I hold him in the highest possible regard.
Yes, Larry has his faults, which I believe lie in delivery. The points Larry
makes about peoples' behavior are spot-on, though yes, I know he's a wee bit
rough around the edges when communicating that. I've also seen to what lengths
he goes to change, and how much he's changed and grown over the last couple
years.
Contrarily, each time there's a flare-up like this, I notice a couple more
people who flatly don't deserve to benefit from Larry's hard work, or the hard
work of *any* administrator. Defensive, rabblerousing, ungrateful, spiteful.
People I don't want to share a community with. [2]
If you want to run people out of town, fine. Such actions are foolish [3],
though. Don not do that and claim you want LUGNET to turn around, for personally
attacking administrators erodes the very foundation of the site [4].
Don't stomp on your blessings.
-Tim
[1] Also, I've seen some folks in this recent discussion who I continue to hold
in high esteem for their respectful and polite disagreement. Thanks, guys.
[2] And major contributors to my change in approach to the community--now I'm
picking my friends and associations and making them quality ones rather than
invest my time in the poop-fest that is the public square.
[3] In the Proverbial (capital-P) sense, not meaning 'goofy.'
[4] And you should be smart enough to get that.
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: In support of Larry
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| (...) I think most people know I'm not much of a "me too" guy. But sometimes, you just have to say, ME TOO! Larry's work has been dilegent and has profoundly contributed to our community. Larry's work in all the aspects of the community that he has (...) (20 years ago, 4-Mar-05, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.people)
| | | Re: In support of Larry
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| (...) Tim, With respect, you are being obsequious. Can people not draw any conclusion from the fact that Larry has probably had more spats with more people than anyone else on LUGNET? Can they not make a judgment based on his willingness to flout (...) (20 years ago, 4-Mar-05, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.people)
| | | Re: In support of Larry
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| In lugnet.admin.general, Tim Courtney wrote: <snip> (...) <snip> Not directed at you, Tim ('cause I like you and all...) but I wonder how people would have felt if someone told Jefferson, et al. the above--"Don't go attacking those British lords in (...) (20 years ago, 4-Mar-05, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.people)
| | | Re: In support of Larry
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| (...) I can agree with you that the level of communication has been rather low. In fact I'm almost getting withdrawal symptoms, as the 'signal-to-fight' ratio has gone so low. I *know* that Larry has done, and does, a *lot* of good work for the (...) (20 years ago, 4-Mar-05, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.people)
| | | Re: In support of Larry
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| (...) I make no (public) judgement about his character but I would make the following points in reply to this post: 1. Working tirelessly for a community does not automatically mean you are suited to any particular role within that community, and 2. (...) (20 years ago, 5-Mar-05, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.people) !
| | | Re: In support of Larry
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| (...) [...] I totally see what you mean here. Until I met Larry in person and spent some time with him (he came to SF on business and we had dinner together) I didn't care much for him either. But after meeting him in person I really like the guy. (...) (20 years ago, 29-Mar-05, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.people)
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