Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 12:36:40 -0500
From: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>
To: scottyo@tenbits.com, lwn@lwn.net
Subject: Guest editorial: Time Out - Linux

(LWN, you're welcome to publish this.  In fact, I wish you would.)

> Why would VA Linux do this? Andover.net will increase VA's revenue stream,
> but with losses of almost 8:1, I can't imagine that investors were really
> pushing for something like this. I may be wrong, but I also can't imagine
> some of VA's advisors recommending this. (And ESR has been
> deafeningly silent on this issue as well.)

As a matter of fact, I was among those on the VA board who actively
advocated the Andover acquisition.  I believe it will prove to be a good
thing for the community.

Actually, I've laughed pretty hard on the few occasions that people
have since wondered in print if Slashdot's integrity would be
compromised.  Because I know exactly what would happen if anybody
at VA tried to make the Slashdot guys toe a corporate line, or 
repeat VA propaganda, or even just grow up a little.

First, Rob and Jeff would send Larry Augustin or me outraged email.
Second, it's a coin toss whether Larry or me would be more pissed off.
Third, whoever tried to lean on them would have to come up with a very
good excuse for behaving like an utter idiot, or be fired on the spot.
The key people at VA all understand how badly we would be damaged if
Rob and Jeff felt they had no choice but to go public with a
censorship complaint.

And this is not just about Slashdot.  Larry and I know that VA's
reputation for playing it absolutely straight with the community is
our most important and most fragile asset.  Computer parts are cheap.
Buildings are easy.  Even people can be replaced.  The unique web of
trust we have with Linux hackers everywhere is what makes VA a potent
force -- and such a web, once torn, can never be mended to be quite as
good as it was.

I think the community instinctively understands that we can't afford
to mess with Slashdot; it would be suicide to try. That's a brute
fact. Your editorial is all hypotheticals, second-order stuff, what
might happen to this perception if that perception changes.  Your
concern is, IMO, understandable but way too fine-spun.

I won't ask you not to criticize VA, but I will ask you to judge us by
our record and by our actions rather than taking counsel of your
fears.  We depend on and serve the Linux and open-source communities;
that's our mission, where we came from, and who we are.  It's why I'm
on Larry's board of directors, and you have my personal promise
as well as my official one that we will never deliberately violate
that trust.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Don't ever think you know what's right for the other person.
He might start thinking he knows what's right for you.
	-- Paul Williams, `Das Energi'