[autodata]

What happens is that in some organizations it's difficult for people to lose their jobs, so they become lifers. They don't need to update their skillsets so they don't, but they can still claim x years experience since they squatted in that job for that period of time making life difficult for those around them.

[Kit Fisto]

That's a very insightful comment.

[Banana]

Originally Posted by autodata What happens is that in some organizations it's difficult for people to lose their jobs, so they become lifers. They don't need to update their skillsets so they don't, but they can still claim x years experience since they squatted in that job for that period of time making life difficult for those around them.

I wonder if it's also that the IT as a profession is too young to have a kind of standard?

When you consider certain profession like doctors, lawyers, engineers or teachers, there are clear expectations for them to keep updated in their fields, to earn CEUs, etc. etc. Is it not the same case with IT professionals?

[j. smith]

it's getting pretty brutal. the poor guy's an out-of-touch (with IT and diplomacy) grandfather. what he worked on, back in the day, is a totally different beast. it seems he's shut down his email. i think he's got the message.

[Kit Fisto]

Sure it's brutal, but you have this angry guy who lacks the skillset he claims to have earning $63,000 a year (which is a lot of money in OK) while other people can't find jobs.

[murbot]

This guy reminds me of Cliff and Enoch Yablonski.

[rasmits]

Tuttle looks like a great place. A real barrel of monkeys.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by rasmits Tuttle looks like a great place. A real barrel of monkeys.

How does a town that size come up with 63k/year just to pay their manager??

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by Dave How does a town that size come up with 63k/year just to pay their manager??

Check towards the northeast...

It's a suburb....

[Moogs]

Suburb of what, exactly? Farm fields and salt lick repositories?

[atomicbartbeans]

Haha, looks like the local newspaper has finally picked up on the story.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by Moogs Suburb of what, exactly? Farm fields and salt lick repositories?

Oklahoma City...

[Moogs]

Hmm. I moved the map around but didn't see anything resembling a decent sized city. Maybe I didn't scrub it far enough.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by atomicbartbeans Haha, looks like the local newspaper has finally picked up on the story.

Pwned.

I love this final quote

“This is just a bunch of freaks out there that don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “When I came in to work Monday morning, I had about 500 e-mails..."

Yah, we're freaks because we're mysterious people out on the web who sent you an email, Jerry. Probably we all have porn tattoos and knee-piercings too! 84 guesses which social circle this asshole belongs to.

[Doxxic]

I'm afraid I'm not on your side here.

Too often, the word "Service Provider" is being used in situations where the person who reads or hears it, is bound to not know what it means, let alone who it is.
Of course this is even more so in a country where we don't speak english, but still.

The reason is that a lot of people, especially older than 50, have no idea how they're computer is connected to the internet. Some don't even realize their computer has to be connected to it. Let alone that a company does that.

The reason is not that they're stupid, but that they don't care. They have more important things to do in life instead of wondering what this whole "MS Windows" stands for, or "Centrino OS" or "NVIDIA Motherboard".

This government person saw nothing on his computer screen but a company name that came instead of his own council website, assumed his system was hacked, googled the name, and demanded clarification, or a concrete name of a company that could give clarity. He was a bit hot tempered, as politicians can be expected to be, but not unreasonable.

Therefore, I'm also amazed that in Apple's help files, the word Service Provider is being used without examples of concrete service providers or any other explanation of the word being given, since it would about double the amount of people who understand what they're saying.

I'm still amazed how some helpdesk people love their systems and cherish every quirk or monstrosity, and get annoyed by the people who use it and behave only half as quirky.

[drewprops]

My favorite quotes from the article...

With 22 years of computer experience, Taylor knew what the unknown can do to computers.

Mayor Paxton said that the city manager knows a lot more about computers than he does, and he trusts Taylor

Taylor said that he also did not regret threatening Hughes with FBI action, since he believes that was what prompted Hughes to start treating him seriously.

I'm going to start trying that last one with girls at bars to make them take me seriously...

.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Doxxic I'm afraid I'm not on your side here.

Maybe because you misunderstand the situation? A couple of points:

Originally Posted by Doxxic Of course this is even more so in a country where we don't speak english, but still.

Point 1: The person is question, Mr. Taylor, lives in Oklahoma and appears to have been born and raised in the USA.

Originally Posted by Doxxic The reason is that a lot of people, especially older than 50, have no idea how they're computer is connected to the internet. Some don't even realize their computer has to be connected to it. Let alone that a company does that. The reason is not that they're stupid, but that they don't care. They have more important things to do in life but wonder what this whole "MS Windows" stands for, or "Centrino OS" or "NVIDIA Motherboard".

Point 2: Mr. Taylor is supposed to have over 20 years in computer experience. Unless Mr. Taylor lied about this (and possibly lied to the city to get his position since he's "trusted" by the mayor for knowing computers), he absolutely should know what an operating system is.

Originally Posted by Doxxic This government person saw nothing on his computer screen but a company name that came instead of his own council website, assumed his system was hacked, googled the name, and demanded clarification, or a concrete name of a company that could give clarity. He was a bit hot tempered, as politicians can be expected to be, but not unreasonable.

Point 3: Mr. Taylor did see full details (very similar to this page) explaining that CentOS is an operating system and that the web server was not properly configured. The default Apache welcome page included simple explanations both for general users and the server administrator. The only possible reasons that Mr. Taylor would have misunderstood the purpose of the page were either that he 1) didn't read the page at all or 2) can't read.

Originally Posted by Doxxic I'm still amazed how some helpdesk people love their systems and cherish every quirk or monstrosity, and get annoyed by the people who use it and behave only half as quirky.

Point 4: Mr. Taylor didn't contact a help desk; he contacted the lead software developer.

[Moogs]

Exactly. It would be like having a kernel panic screen on your mac, and finding an email off the ADC list-serve, and demanding help from a programmer, rather than calling Applecare. Stupid iyz as stupid duz, mistuh Tuttle!

Moreover, I agree with Drew. I think threatening FBI action is something we should all do in our daily lives to improve the prospects of strangers taking us seriously.

[Doxxic]

Originally Posted by Brad Maybe because you misunderstand the situation? A couple of points: Point 1: The person is question, Mr. Taylor, lives in Oklahoma and appears to have been born and raised in the USA. Point 2: Mr. Taylor is supposed to have over 20 years in computer experience. Unless Mr. Taylor lied about this (and possibly lied to the city to get his position since he's "trusted" by the mayor for knowing computers), he absolutely should know what an operating system is. Point 3: Mr. Taylor did see full details (very similar to this page) explaining that CentOS is an operating system and that the web server was not properly configured. The default Apache welcome page included simple explanations both for general users and the server administrator. The only possible reasons that Mr. Taylor would have misunderstood the purpose of the page were either that he 1) didn't read the page at all or 2) can't read. Point 4: Mr. Taylor didn't contact a help desk; he contacted the lead software developer.

Sorry, my fault - I was aware of point one but I didn't totally realize how much of a typical political dick Mr. Taylor must be.
He didn't read anything except what he was looking for, spilled a lot of unneccessary accusations, held a person responsible with an disproportional lot of responsibilities except the relevant one, and used way too much political pressure in order to have this problem solved right away.

Still I can sympathize with him .
Johnny Hughes doesn't deal with these central points Taylor makes:
- If you can't hold the company responsible whose name appears on the computer screen as a result of a problem, that's this company's problem and not the user's.
- Taylor hates having to pay attention to problems that are not his.

To me it looks like Taylor decided to react to the fact that Hughes totally neglected either of these points, by demonstratively neglecting all Hughes said about procedures and technology, and poking up the fire a little and maybe even making a little fun of Hughes. A bit like those elder conservative muppet assholes could, if you know who I mean.

[OmegaB]

snip

[alcimedes]

Ok, I just saw this now when I was browsing on the subject.

Another government official also got a nod Monday night. City manager Jerry A. Taylor was evaluated by the council during executive session, and the five men voted to give him a raise due to his work with the city. Taylor’s annual salary was raised by $5,000, going from $63,000 to $68,000. Taylor has been with the city since August 2005.

The fun never stops I guess.

Now I'm going to go turn off the internet.

[Kraetos]

Another government official also got a nod Monday night. City manager Jerry A. Taylor was evaluated by the council during executive session, and the five men voted to give him a raise due to his work with the city. Taylor’s annual salary was raised by $5,000, going from $63,000 to $68,000. Taylor has been with the city since August 2005.

I believe ol' Grimey said it best:

Originally Posted by Frank Grimes I'm peeing on the seat! Give me a raise!

[billybobsky]

How else are you going to keep the old digerati employed, I mean the last time he was unemployed he built a tesla coil that wiped out most of eastern oklahoma...

[Banana]

Any chances of getting him to take an computer literacy examination?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by That Taylor Idiot “This is just a bunch of freaks out there that don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “When I came in to work Monday morning, I had about 500 e-mails, plus anonymous phone calls from all the geeks out there. [CentOS is] a free operating system that this guy gives away, which tells you how much time he’s got on his hands.”

That's a nice thing to say about the people who, y'know, built your web server and then gave it to you for free. He's like criticizing the open source movement for not being corporate enough. Ugh. (I love how he seems to think that CentOS was made by exactly one person, too.)

The worst part is, he hasn't learned from any of this. How can he? He "still stands by what he has done." It's the hundreds of people sending him emails that are wrong, not him. Some people...

[Bryson]

.....Attack of the Zombie Thread!

Run people, run!

[zippy]

um...


or


maybe


OK. I'll stop now.

[World Leader Pretend]

I must have missed this thread the first time around, thanks for the laughs!

(and tears)

[Moogs]

Kids today and that GOL-DARN INTARWEB are driving me crazy!