misquoting . . . .
st...@vax.ftp.com
*Heck, if you speak out, others will quote you.
*Sigh,
*Dan
*-------
that is "misquote", dan. (or are *you* misquoting?)(or should we just
misquote you)
it is bad enough that articles misquote someone, i would like to think
that most of them dont know they are mucking it up, rather than not caring
or trying to twist things to prove their point.
i would be saddened to see people stop posting here because they are scared
of being mis-quoted . . . . . . . . .
stev knowles
ftp-software
st...@ftp.com
Dan Lynch
Stev, The press does a mixed job, for sure. But they fill a need for
many persons who want to get a feel of what is going on "out there".
I look upon it as "awareness training". When I see enough articles
about something I am peripherally interested in, I then do something
more "serious" about gettin gthe next level of information. I remember
having the follwoing three experiences in my life with the press:
1) When I was 16 I got in a fender bender in my small town. It got in the
local paper, of course! The article had me going north instead of south,
driving the other person's vehicle make, etc. They did, however, get my name
right.
2) A few years ago there was a Datamation article about me and my efforts
to resolve theissue of whether there was going to be a big push to mandate
TCP/IP protocol testing. The article had numerous "quotes" from me and
from at least a half dozen other persons. Essentially every "fact" in
the article was wrong. (All the numbers were off by a factor of at least
10 and in random directions!) The "story" was, however, very accurate.
3) A few months ago I had a long interview with some reporter about the
evolution of TCP/IP. In our conversation I told the reporter about some
of my (dark) past and one item had to do with how I worked on managing the
transition from the old NCP protocols to the new TCP/IP protocols. In the
ensuing printed article the reporter said that I led the conversion of
IBM's Network Control Program for the 360/370 architecture to Arpanet.
That poor reporter took my acronym, NCP, and translated it to something
quite normal in the "real world". No harm. No one called me up and
called me a charlatan because I actually know nothing about IBM's NCP!
In short, Stev, you are right! Just say it the best way you know how
and take the "losses in translation". That's the beauty of humans.
They can compensate for a lot of bogosity. If, howsomever, they take
a tight, efficient, accurate algorithm from someone like Van Jacobson and
contort it in any way, it cannot be compiled by a computer, for sure.
Now that I've started and ended this with "Valley Speak",
Ciao,
Dan
-------
H. Craig McKee
>and take the "losses in translation". That's the beauty of humans.
>They can compensate for a lot of bogosity. If, howsomever, they take
>a tight, efficient, accurate algorithm from someone like Van Jacobson and
>contort it in any way, it cannot be compiled by a computer, for sure.
In the tradition of getting the facts wrong but the story right:
The closing reference to Van Jacobson and a compiler reminds me of an
old story about someone who worked for Sperry. For amusement, he would
submit the inter-office memos to a COBOL complier; about 1/4 of the
memos would compile. Regards - Craig
Barry Shein
From: st...@vax.ftp.com
>it is bad enough that articles misquote someone, i would like to think
>that most of them dont know they are mucking it up, rather than not caring
>or trying to twist things to prove their point.
Although I agree with you in spirit I'd be happy to ship you a
transcript of CBS's coverage on their evening news report of the
Hacker's Convention a few weeks ago.
They blatantly and consciously lied, clipped out of context, overlaid
sensationalist narrative to turn what was basically a benign
convention of computer nerds into some sort of conspiratorial assembly
of criminals, it was unbelievable. Here is part of the opening:
----------
Narrator (trees and outdoor scenes at conference): A small revolutionary
army is meeting in the hills above California's Silicon Valley this
weekend, plotting their next attacks on the valley below, the heart
of the nation's computer industry. They call themselves computer hackers.
----------
The rest is worse.
-Barry Shein, ||Encore||
Barry Shein
If I can give some small, oft-repeated advice about speaking to the
media...(I apologize for this slightly off-base note but a *lot* of us
are getting calls from the media about this worm thing, maybe this
will be of some help.)
1. Don't get starry-eyed and speak to them if you're not in a position
to speak to them. They will misquote you, screw it up etc and your
boss will be sure s/he could have done better, is p-o'd that you got
the interview and not him/her and you will feel betrayed (which is
naive.) Remember, you will take the heat if they get it wrong, people
will assume you were somehow unclear.
2. Don't take their questions *too* seriously, they're just poking
around in the dark (particularly about technical matters.) Just say
what you want to see yourself quoted as saying, don't worry if it
doesn't exactly answer the question. Reporters are used to that and
don't care as long as you're giving them stuff they can use in an
article. IT'S NOT A PERSONAL CHAT.
3. If they get rude or press about an issue you don't want to talk
about either smile and tell them the interview has ended or repeat
what you want them to walk away with, politely. Don't fight or argue
with them.
4. Don't be afraid to pause before answering a question and collecting
your thoughts, even it seems awkward, they understand you are thinking
and trying to give a good answer and know better than you do that what
you are about to say might be very important.
If you're the sort of person who can't separate the person from the
issue (eg. worry that you're offending a reporter personally by not
sticking to the question) you don't belong talking to the press. Same
advice if you anger easily. Speaking to the press is a professional
act, not a personal one. Refer them to someone else.
Above all, be courteous and try to tell the truth (or don't say
anything at all, or be absolutely sure you want to deal with the
possible consequences.)
-Barry Shein, ||Encore||
s...@vax.ftp.com
>>it is bad enough that articles misquote someone, i would like to think
>>that most of them dont know they are mucking it up, rather than not caring
>>or trying to twist things to prove their point.
>Although I agree with you in spirit I'd be happy to ship you a
>transcript of CBS's coverage on their evening news report of the
>Hacker's Convention a few weeks ago.
I think when Stev said "articles" in the above quote, he was just referring
to USENET/mailing list articles. (Stev, beat me about the head and neck if
I'm misquoting you :-) This spawned the discussion of problems with the
press.
Before I read your (very disturbing) account of CBS's mangulation of the
Hackers' Convention, I was already alarmed by the type and amount of press
this whole Internet virus has gotten. In the front page and followup
articles in the Boston Globe today (the Globe is a highly acclaimed,
respectable paper for you non-Bostonians) portrayed this Morris character
as a hackers' folk hero. It seemed to quote countless people praising him
for his brilliance and ingenuity and suggesting that he did us all a favor
by "exposing" this sendmail bug to the Internet at large, but quoted nobody
who in any way, shape, or form said, "Oh great. What an asshole."
No wonder there's this stereotype.
Shelli Meyers (who works for but doesn't speak for)
FTP Software, Inc.
Ron Natalie
the correct definition of the word hacker appeared around page A20 of
Nov 7, 1988 New York Times. I've circulated this around various administrative
types here at Rutgers.
_Ron
Walter Underwood
2. Don't take their questions *too* seriously, they're just poking
No kidding. Someone from the NY Times called HP, asking if we had a
"neural" connection to CSNET.
wunder
Steve Dyer
>In the front page and followup
>articles in the Boston Globe today (the Globe is a highly acclaimed,
>respectable paper for you non-Bostonians) portrayed this Morris character
>as a hackers' folk hero. It seemed to quote countless people praising him
>for his brilliance and ingenuity and suggesting that he did us all a favor
>by "exposing" this sendmail bug to the Internet at large, but quoted nobody
>who in any way, shape, or form said, "Oh great. What an asshole."
Putting aside your description of the Globe as "respectable", I would
like to think that the media's portrayal of Robert as "brilliant" and
"ingenious" comes from the many interviews with people who know him and
have worked with him, all of whom will gladly offer comments describing
him as brilliant, his work ingenious, his manner uniformly helpful,
and his intentions always free of malice. This particular event is
certainly confusing to those of us who harbor such opinions, but it's
also not enough to sweep them away.
Sherri, I've known assholes, I've worked with assholes, and RTM
is no asshole.
--
Steve Dyer
dy...@harvard.harvard.edu
dy...@spdcc.COM aka {harvard,husc6,linus,ima,bbn,m2c,mipseast}!spdcc!dyer