[clug] flame war peace process

[Darren Freeman]

Dear all,

I certainly don't want to get onto either side of the growing arguments
about certain people wanting to sell stuff at CLUG. But I do want to
shed some unpolarised light on the situation and hopefully calm things
down.

The main person involved has for some time been overly helpful to people
in CLUG, even giving away a video card today via the list, although
usually everything stays off this list so you might not know about it. I
suspect that the recent spate of offers to get rid of hardware are due
to a personal situation, since I think these things would remain prized
posessions otherwise.

Had these arguments not started, I suspect that the for sale ads would
have had negligible impact on the list, however just today there have
been plenty of posts on the topic. I for one won't be posting anything
more on the subject as I don't want to fuel it, but I think we should
all take time out and consider that if someone suddenly wants to sell
stuff then they might be a friend in need. Even if their way of doing it
doesn't sit well with some people.

I would like to stress that this incident is *not* commercial in nature.
It is a private transaction conducted through contacts made via CLUG,
with drop-off points via CLUG. I don't know whether ANU cares but I
suspect that they don't. Although if we keep debating it, maybe they
will.

I for one am going to enjoy the pizza and good company tonight and if
people are selling computer-related things to each other, so what. It's
fun to see odd hardware being bought/sold anyway, you get to see the
guts without having one yourself.

Have fun,
Darren