[svlug] SVLUG - hostile takeover

[Kevin Railsback]

I've found that the svlug mailing list is much more mellow with a few  
well-crafted filters.  :)

-- 
Kevin Railsback
Director of Technology
InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.


On Aug 5, 2007, at 11:20 PM, Rafael Skodlar <raffi at linwin.com> wrote:

> SVLUG,
>
> It happens from time to time that different organization become  
> victims
> of a hostile take over. It happened to SVLUG some time last year I
> believe. Based on latest chain of emails I came to the conclusion that
> _Rick Moen_ contributed to this big time. Yes Rick, I'm accusing you
> just that. I ignored your attack messages for months and only recently
> started to pay more attention again.
>
> I would be more than happy to see you stop attacking people I know,
> people that are my professional colleagues and friends, but you keep
> coming back like a rabid dog. Attacks on Ian Kluft, Alvin Oga, Heater
> Stern, Jennifer, and others became your major topic on this list since
> "you run the show". I spent numerous hours on different activities,
> picnix, ham radio, etc. with people you seem to hate so much. I know
> them well. I hate to see their names being dragged through the mud by
> you or anybody else.
>
> A reminder or background for the "newbies". I'm a member of SVLUG  
> since
> before it was officially called that way, that's SVPAL days. The  
> mailing
> list used to be very lively. SVLUG members, some from BayLisa, were  
> very
> supportive to newcomers. People from all over the world discussed  
> mostly
> LINUX related questions and we learned from each other, long before  
> Rick
> started to "help". We also  started to help each other with
> installfests, phone calls, etc. Some of us ended up going to homes of
> people that needed Linux help, etc. Later on, Ian and others arranged
> and managed installfests at Cisco for years. We were a happy family as
> one member frequently put it in his messages.
>
> As more and more online help was provided in different forums besides
> ours the message level dropped somewhat in recent years. However, it's
> my observation that it took the biggest dive since SVLUG hostile
> takeover last year. There were some minor disagreements between people
> on occasion, including myself, but Rick managed to take them to the  
> next
> level IMO. People just went away or turned into passive members as  
> they
> told me in private.
>
> On one occasion, he, joined by his wife to be, if I remember  
> correctly,
> and I had a big fight over something or the other on the SVLUG list
> during his "San Francisco days", see archives. He _always_ wanted and
> had to have the last word. I let it go at that and other times and
> thought we mended that "split in opinions" at the last two Linux
> picnics, exchanging a few words.//
>
> However, I cannot let it go this time because of baseless accusations
> about _ham radio group_ pocketing SVLUG money. Rick you are very  
> good at
> twisting words, English, Latin, or whatever so I'm not going to engage
> in any further discussions about your character assassination  
> adventures
> but feel that I need to come out of a passive membership in defense of
> colleagues or groups I'm involved in. Perhaps Google or some other  
> site
> will go back in time and run psychology analysis on mailing list
> archives to tell who's right or not in the near future.
>
> In one of the latest emails, attacks obviously, you mentioned "ham  
> radio
> group" in a very negative way IMO. _ham radio group_, not sure what  
> you
> meant by that in your attack exactly, never made any unilateral
> decisions about Picnix or who's going to be invited from SVLUG and  
> other
> groups or not. Just because some people engage in "ham radio", i.e.
> amateur radio, among other things, it doesn't mean that they are
> unprofessional or run a ham radio cabal to "kick all of the Bay Area
> Linux groups out of picnic governance".
>
> As a ham I would recommend you do not stick head in a microwave box to
> come up with additional baseless accusations about ham radio group  
> "...
> pocket all leftover sponsorship money into your own treasury after the
> event." or anything else of that nature for that matter. That's a
> serious accusation you know. Some of us put ham and other equipment to
> common use based on our (personal $) abilities at different _non-ham_
> events and feel insulted when a clueless outsider throws bad words,  
> read
> lies, abut it around. We used ham radio to provide communications for
> shuttles and private cars driving people to/from the picnix and  
> provided
> support in case of emergency at previous Linux picnic events. Some of
> the hams were there just for that, help and communications support.
> Nobody ever received a dime or a spare battery for it. Free hamburger
> doesn't count. You got it too. Person you hate so much, Ian,  
> provided a
> lot of his personal equipment, some worth thousands of $ uncounted
> times, and so did others. On other occasions for example, Alvin  
> donated
> new computer hardware, but of course, you don't see such things.
>
> You keep acting as a self appointed SVLUG word twisting lawyer. I hate
> damn lawyers especially when they lie and act as executioners as well.
> You are voted of the island as far as I'm concerned.
>
> Here you have it, my opinions and observations. I will not engage in  
> any
> more of this debates on the list however.
>
>
> Sadly,
>
> -- 
> Rafael
>
>
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