Re: Re: Posting Summary for Week Ending 18 January, 2008: php-general@lists.php.net

David Powers schreef:

Jochem Maas wrote:

if I am correct you are or were a journalist. forgive if I have mistaken you for another, but if that is correct then how often have you trodden on someone's privacy for the sake of a story?

Yes, I was a journalist for some 30 years, but roughly two-thirds of that time was spent in an editorial capacity, not on the road.

I can't quite see what difference that makes. you wrote something, you edited something, you allowed something through - whats the difference for the current point being discussed?

I cannot honestly remember an occasion on which I infringed someone's privacy for the sake of a story.

even if that's your honest opinion there might be someone who thought differently at some stage when they were affected by something you produced, no?

The privacy guidelines that applied to my job are publicly available online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/edguide/privacy/consent.shtml

it's quite possible to follow the letter of law whilst raping it's spirit.

as Dan pointed out he's not actually in violation of anything

That's Dan's interpretation.

isn't interpretation all we have? (not forgetting php is interpreted ;-))

why not get over it and join the club instead of knocking it?

All that was necessary was for Dan to acknowledge that he'd made a mistake publishing a list of everyone's email address in plain text. It was wholly unnecessary for the purpose of creating a chart of the most prolific posters. Counting the number of posts is pretty meaningless anyway. It says nothing about the usefulness of those posts. I rarely post here, not for any negative reasons, but because I can see there are plenty of knowledgeable people here giving a lot of valuable help to others. So I spend my time contributing to other forums where PHP expertise is thin on the ground.

I'm of the opinion that this kind of knowledge should be concentrated in as few places as possible, thereby offering newbies a bigger and juicier target to aim their questions at. just a thought.

If treating someone's complaint with contempt, even if you don't agree with the substance of it, is the way this "club" works, it's not one that I feel comfortable joining.

you create the world you live in, if your confronted with contempt (in your perception) then in the end that is wholly your doing. you can't force Dan or anyone else to do/respond in any given way (i.e. a way you see as correct) so it's futile - I am certain that had you approached with your grievance in a different manner then you would have gotten a completely different result, namely the one you desired. this is in your hands, not anyone elses. this applies to everything not just Dan or this mailing list.