The CP2 controversy

Just wanted to give a hearty "thanks" for the hate mail I've received so
far.  Please, keep it coming.  I enjoy it.  In case you didn't realize,
it's a real no-brainer to flame me - I can't do anything to change the
curriculum here.  I identified myself as a _teaching assistant_, remember?

I've been reading some of the messages between you about this mess, and
from what I can gather:  CP2 is a massive conspiracy, masterminded by one
single instructor (called kgros) and designed specifically to destroy
alt.ascii-art.  Why haven't I seen you guys on alt.paranoid.ufo?  You'd be
very much accepted there.  For your information, CP2 is an exercise
conducted in our class, and involves only the copying of a message from
alt.ascii.art to a student's personal directory.  The copied message is
then attached to a message that is posted to our own personal newsgroup.
You shouldn't be seeing any of this, but sometimes some of our students
make a mistake and post to alt.ascii-art instead of the class newsgroup.
Does it really cause you people physical pain to see these messages?

The reason we use alt.ascii-art is - we like your work.  We enjoy seeing
the nice pictures you make, and it makes our students enjoy the course a
little more.  You're yelling at us because we like what you do.  This is
not surprising, considering the topsy-turvy state of today's society.

Okay, I've said my peace.  If this stuff is really making a wreck of your
lives, then get a guide to U.S. colleges and write to our university's
computer science department.  Tell them you don't like what's going on.
Ask them to change the location of the newsgroup we use in the course.
And be unified about it.  A million signatures does more than two.

Have a nice day.

Patrick Craig
My views do not reflect those of Wright State University.

On Tue, 7 Oct 1997 20:21:58 -0400,
Patrick Craig cause to appear:
>
<snip reteric>           (  
                          `)   
                      ./  ,' \.
                     ((.-|*|-.))
  ---==============\  \)* # *(/   /===============---
   --===============\  ~~):(~~   /===============--
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|  _ \  ___ _ __ ___   ___  _ __   |  ___(_)_ __ ___ 
| | | |/ _ \ '_ ` _ \ / _ \| '_ \  | |_  | | '__/ _ \
| |_| |  __/ | | | | | (_) | | | | |  _| | | | |  __/
|____/ \___|_| |_| |_|\___/|_| |_| |_|   |_|_|  \___|
                                                     

Simple ascii by Grey Cloak and figlet.



         ---------------------------------------------
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http://www.geocities.com/Area51/7614
http://w3.one.net/~grycloak/dreams/dream.htm

Dear alt.ascii-art and Patrick Craig,

I was surfing the 'net looking for something entirely different when I
came across this group. I was tickled pink to find the Garfield and Odie
pics which I forwarded to my sister ... but of course, while going
through the group, I happened to read the messages about the "CP2
Controversy".

Patrick, regardless of your position, your attitude seems a bit off key
to me. I can well understand your taking offence at some of the email
sent to you, however, what do you gain by fanning the fire.

I was a teaching assistant at Southwestern Community College (Chula
Vista, CA) for Greg Mohler (I can't remember the exact spelling of his
name) and Alice Stapczynsky, in the Computer Science department. My
suggestions to them were always taken into consideration and often had
an influence.

What I fail to understand is why:

(1) you perpetuate this dialogue ... if you ignored it, I think, the
email would eventually stop.

(2) you don't take it up with the appropriate instructor ... I'm certain
he/she would find a solution to the "problem".

(3) you don't discuss "it" with the students ... I'm certain they don't
want to go against the wishes of the group.

(4) if you really feel people should complain to the science department,
why haven't you provided a means of contact, such as a mailing address
or an email address or a phone number?

I'm not new to computers nor to the 'net, but I've had limited
experience with usenet groups. I'm aware of making mistakes and don't
take offence when corrected. I simply apologize. Even when I make
mistakes in areas where I have extensive experience. I don't claim to be
perfect.

The only time I feel slighted is when my apology goes unrecognized and I
still get flamed. And it does happen. To the group, I relate the
following incident as point in fact:

I get about 200-300 emails a day. About 75% of them are SPAM that are
sex-related. Most of the time, I just deleted them; however, I started
seeing them in my children's email boxes (one is 12 and the other is
14). I became incensed, replied using SpamHater ... WITHOUT looking at
the headers.

What I hadn't noticed was that the email had come via one of the usenet
groups causing all kinds of problems. The bottom line was that I created
a flurry of SPAM HATE mail on a message group that is devoted to
announcing new/updated genealogical sites.

Needless to say, I was very embarrassed when I realized my error, and I
sent a letter of apology to the group and to the list owner in
particular. Can you imagine when, to my absolute horror, I was summarily
removed from the group for flaming/spamming?

It is so very easy to misread/misunderstand people when they are
standing in front of you and you can hear their tone of voice, see their
body language ... but remove all the sensory inputs to which we are
accustomed when communicating by email ... and all hell breaks loose!

Folks ... we all make mistakes. But we can learn by them.

Craig -- I hope you have learned something from this and would be
willing to try and set things right. I can't believe that you aren't a
nice person.

Regards,

Jeanne Gold
gol...@ix.netcom.com
http://www.gold-cousins.org/

Lest I forget ... I find the ASCII art absolutely WONDERFUL. Kudos to
all of you and your really delightful and wonderful group.