Faster 'Net growth rate raises fears about routers

Stephen Stuart stuart at mfnx.net
Thu Apr 5 05:27:20 UTC 2001


smd at clock.org (Hi, Sean) said:

> P.S.: Isn't it cool that none of us is using an address which in any
>       way informs a person who didn't already know, who it is that we 
>       work for?

The thing I thought on reading that was that it was further evidence
that you (me, everyody) should be conservative in that you send, and
liberal in what you receive. The comment illustrates (to me, I'm not
trying to put words in Sean's mouth here) that, in an industry as
small as ours, you should exercise caution in dealing with people;
someone working at a startup with a DSL connection to the net today
could very well be an influential person at a global provider or
vendor on which you depend tomorrow. The person you flame tonight
might be the person you need to help you solve a problem tomorrow.

You just never know.

As for the "anonymity" of personal email accounts, and those amusing
disclaimers trying to dissociate a person's opinions from their
employer, the flip side of Sean's comment is that in many cases it's
not too hard to figure out someone's employer at any given time. While
the use of the personal email address and the disclaimer may provide
some protection from having one's statements interpreted as binding on
the employer of the moment (IANAL), I doubt that protection extends to
preventing people from wondering how the employer of someone flaming
away on NANOG feels about the person doing it.

So, some advice. Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what
you receive. Treat the people you converse with here as if you may
need them to do you a favor tomorrow. I would hope that would be as
common sense as not running with scissors, but apparently it's not.

Stephen

P.S. This is posted from my "work" account, and I try very hard to
make my opinions the opinions of my employer.




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