Netrail woes (was Re: Atlanta-NAP down (fwd))

Thu Aug 28 13:36:48 UTC 1997

NANOG rating: useful content nil (flame, style tip, 
		no latin, likely will provoke angry
		response and private email alleging
		hypocrisy and a gentle note from Uncle Bill the AUP enforcer)

Nathan Stratton <nathan at netrail.net> writes:

> Ok, how much larger is BBN compared to NetRail???

The point, I believe, is that despite BBN being much
bigger than NetRail, I do not see its executives or staff
going on and on and on about how wonderful it is and how
awful everyone else is in comparison.

Moreover, despite the fact that there are some enormously
talented people at BBN -- some of them are as startlingly
young as you, Nathan -- I have never seen any of them try
so hard as you to impress others, or to be seen as the
only competent engineer anywhere.

There is no doubt that you run a network of some size and
are obviously pretty bright, but I think that if you
managed to tone down a bit -- and I say this as one of the
bigger loud-mouthed assholes on this list -- people might
respect your accomplishments a bit more for what they are,
rather than what you often merely seem to claim them to be.

In particular, I would suggest that you recognize that the
people you've mocked in the past are neither stupid nor
inhuman.  Maybe you can learn what it feels like to be
berated in public for things beyond your control when you
really are doing your best, and as a result do that a
little less frequently.

> Well Sean, you can sit back and soon eat your words.

My words are often very tasty, and never in need of
additional salt or spice, so if, indeed, you change and
become someone pleasant to deal with in technical arenas
and someone I'd consider useful, I would sooner eat my
comments than Metcalfe's. (His writing style is very bland,
punctuated by things like his "gigaoutage" neologisms,
which distract from the blandness much in the manner as
finding a large piece of kielbasa in one's bowl of lentil soup).

> and so far we lost only 1 customer due to this outage. Why, because we
> provide a services that is better then most providers out there.

Oh, well, on the other hand, if you're determined to stick
to your guns, I get a chuckle out of thinking how cool it
would be to be so incredibly good at what I do that even
major fuckups wouldn't matter to customers.

> P.S. We have also learned not be be dependent on Worldcom. We will soon
> buy our DS3s from 3 fibers carriers, and not just 1.

Precisely!  Exactly why nobody has only one credit card.

	Sean.