Wow - just wow.
On 6/26/2019 3:29 PM, Adam Roach wrote:
By way of disclosure, I'll be the
first to point out that I'm on both the IESG and the RSOC, and
so I'm going to have a certain perspective on the events
underway. I hope that my statements below stand on their own,
independently of whatever interests my position may imply.
On 6/26/19 10:20 AM, Michael
Richardson wrote:
I am claiming that some think that this situation has just occured, and it
resulted in the RSE deciding to do something else rather than attempt to
continue fighting against some bad thing happening.
(I am not saying that I even understand what the "thing" was, or agree that
it was "bad")
You or anyone else for that matter. What happened is:
- We, the community, liked Heather personally
- Heather is leaving
- So we're sad [1]
What a piece of self serving revisionism. What appears to have
really happened from the emails that have been published is:
1) We the RSOC like Heather personally (or so the RSOC has said
repeatedly).
2) Because of this the RSOC decided we needed to recompete the
RSE and used the excuse of needing to tweek the RFP process - said
process that could have been delayed for almost 3 years but was
considered by the RSOC to be of critical importantance (why?) that
the RSE just did it now.
3) Because of the short time to do so the RSOC grudgingly offered
to extend the current RSE contract through the end of 2021 and
notified her of the intent to terminate the contract at that
point.
4) At some point near the time Heather was notified, the RSOC
sent a note to the IAB indicating (2) and (3), which Heather would
have read.
5) Heather, analyzing both what has been said and not said
declined the extension for the reasons she stated.
6) Some of us are sad, and I'm not sure of who that includes.
-
You're kind of pointing sideways at some conspiracy theories
that people have come up with to explain why #2 happened, but
they're not really supported by facts in evidence. This is
natural: because of #3, it's understandable to try to find
someone to blame. But this is why you're having a hard time
understanding what the "thing" is: it's whatever boogeyman the
conspiracy theorists have chosen to invent for that moment. And
so it's definitely "bad", but it isn't actually "real".
I'm not saying that all of the critical posts on this topic are
wrong. There are some valid points being made about the overall
RFC Editor model, its history, and where its future may lie; and
some of these are necessarily being couched as criticism.
But there is also some poorly motivated rage being expressed
based on wholly fabricated assumptions, much of which seems to
be impervious to facts and unable to cite sources. Again, this
is an understandable and natural reaction to being sad, although
it is far from helpful. Even worse, it may harm our ability to
find a suitable replacement for Heather: who wants to walk into
a community full of rage?
And so I strongly encourage you -- and others -- to be wary of
arguments based on supposition. Share what you know and think,
but please don't amplify untested theories.
/a
____
[1] I'm using "sad" here as a proxy for a complicated maelstrom
of negative emotions that people seem to be undergoing at the
moment. There's probably an entire doctoral thesis's worth of
explanation that could be used to describe these emotions more
accurately, but I don't have the tools to do so.
